


Tales of Inaba

by faroresson



Category: Persona 4, Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Canon Divergence, FYI Yu is constantly playing Papa's Burgeria in his head, Humor, I am picking and choosing some facts, I have recently finished P5, I just want people to know they're there, I wrote this with my brother, Little bit of fluff in there now, M/M, Post-Canon, Vacation Fic Baby!, Yu is an author and he wrote about The Midnight Channel, btw all relationships are kinda background, that's why he's such a space case
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-23
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:20:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 20,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26608141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/faroresson/pseuds/faroresson
Summary: It's the summer of 2017, and Ren is going to spend his week of vacation with friends from Tokyo. The now third year Phantom Thieves, along with Morgana, take a little trip down to Inaba for fishing, history, and the author of the Midnight Channel. The forecast is nothing but good times all around.
Relationships: Hanamura Yosuke/Narukami Yu, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Persona 4 Protagonist & Persona 5 Protagonist, Persona 5 Protagonist/Sakamoto Ryuji
Comments: 28
Kudos: 87





	1. Off to Inaba

The second school let out for summer, Ren packed his bags and caught the train to Tokyo. Staying at the cafe with friends who didn't still look twice at his conviction was a hell of a better plan than hanging around in a tiny town where not even his own parents would seem at ease near him. Ren spent his first night back in Tokyo half dead in Leblanc's attic, and the second reuniting with the Thieves. It was Ann's idea to take a vacation, Makoto's to steal vacation spot ideas from Shujin's Tourism Club, and Ren's to go north-west to Inaba. Unfortunately most of the Thieves claimed work, schooling or other related excuses as to why they couldn't go; however there was a near unanimous encouragement for the founders to have some "Family Time."

It was early into the first full week of summer break, as in, approximately 10am on the 24th of July, when Ren announced to Sojiro and Futaba that he’d be taking a trip. He did mention they were welcome to join, but both had outstanding commitments to attend to. Even so, the Sakuras found it strange that their attic dweller wanted to head off on his own for summer instead of staying with friends; Sojiro asked Ren about his decision during a quiet moment in the cafe,

“Where are you headed? Going with anyone?”

Ren wiped the plastic lenses of his glasses with the hem of his shirt, “Small town in the countryside. Ryuji and Ann are coming with me.” he answered. The teen figured it would be enough information, he had been on his best behaviour -more or less staying out of trouble- since last April, including the two days he'd been in Tokyo again this year and he’d been getting along well with Sojiro.

“What town, and why?”

He figured wrong, “Inaba, it’s a bonding thing between us. We chose the town at the suggestion of the tourism club; Inaba has several historic landmarks and the fishing is supposed to be good.” Ren wasn’t one to outright lie, and he wasn’t! Not entirely, anyway, the historic landmarks like the old shrines and temples were things he learned about from the tourism club. The reason Ren wanted to take his fellow PT founders to Inaba specifically was because he’d wanted to visit since he’d picked up  _ The Midnight Channel _ book series in May. Those books were where the fishing comment came from, the author, Yu Narukami spent almost an entire chapter’s worth of text detailing the fishing at the Samegawa Floodplain.

Sojiro nodded, returning his attention to the counters he was wiping down. He muttered something about “costs” and “clean air” but Ren paid it no mind. The boy started heading back to his attic room to pack up his bags,

“We head out at 3 this afternoon, Tokyo Station.” he added just as he disappeared from Sojiro’s line of sight. 

Packing wasn’t difficult. Ren already had the suitcases and this time he wasn’t moving all his stuff. It took maybe an hour to tuck everything neatly into a medium sized push case, giving him a few hours to finish yesterday’s sudoku Futaba had given up on, and get another chapter through  _ The Midnight Channel: Cage of the Sparrow _ . The protagonists had just found the door that separated them from an unknown dark presence when Ren’s phone buzzed, ripping him from the immersion of the story. It was a PM from Ann,

_ Yo! Should we grab food before we catch the train? _

Before Ren had unlocked his phone to respond, another message popped up,  _ Ryuji said “hell yeeee” so _

Ren let out a heavy breath from his nose, and answered,  _ Sounds good.  _ Then quickly added  _ I’m bringing Morgana so we should grab some sushi _ .

Ann had sent an acknowledgement message that Ren didn’t read. He scooped up his school jacket and empty school bag then gestured to Morgana, who had been laying passively in the patch of sun on the windowsill. The magical cat hopped to the floor and onto Ren’s suitcase then into the open school bag,

“This trip is a great opportunity to spread the Phantom Thieves’ reach a little, eh?” Morgana said, settling into the canvas bag that would be his home for the next while.

Ren shook his head, “We can check, sure. But the plan was vacation.” If it was possible for a cat to pout, Morgana was definitely doing that now, Ren pet his head a couple times and zipped the shoulder bag mostly closed. Then, he grabbed the extended handle of his suitcase and shot a message off to Ann and Ryuji, telling them he was on the way. Ren offered a quick goodbye to Sojiro on his way out the door, and Sojiro demanded at least a postcard. 

Lunch was a quick deal, cheap grocery store bentos grabbed on the way to the station. It wouldn’t be enough to stay fully sated, but it would definitely be enough to tide everyone over for the several hour train ride. Ann was unable to sit still while they ate, excitedly pacing back and forth, followed by Morgana getting a little bit of exercise before his proper imprisonment to the school bag.

“It’s going to be so much fun! A famous inn! Lots of fresh air! An open horizon!” she cheered between bites of a rice ball. Her excitement was contagious, and soon Ryuji was adding to the list, praising the chance for local foods, and the lack of school responsibilities, though that may be more based around it being summer vacation in general than the trip to Inaba. Ren watched his friends with a passive elation related to going somewhere both nobody knew him and that was the setting for his current favourite read. Soon, but not soon enough, it was time to board the train.

The three teens settled into their seats, Morgana’s bag set on the seat beside Ren. The train was unsurprisingly barren, only a few passengers outside the Phantoms’ founders. It didn’t take long for the train to empty out, the first couple of stops taking the extraneous passengers, and after leaving the extended city limits, nobody new got on. By hour three of the train ride, the giddy chatter had died. Ren turned to his book, setting his glasses atop his head to read better. Ryuji had passed out and was snoring quietly against the window, magically not waking against the shaking of the glass. Ann was quietly swiping away at a game on her phone. The only words exchanged -if you could even call it an exchange- were the occasional utterance of “Damn!” or “Yes!” from Ann, or unintelligible mumbling from the sleeping blond to her left.

By hour five, Ann had given up on her game and moved to a different set of seats, without cat bags and classmates, in order to lay down and relax with a podcast. Ren had joined Ryuji in sleep, though he sat upright, head hanging like a ragdoll and book accidentally discarded on the floor.

It was early into sunset when the intercom of the train hummed, rousing the passengers from their rest. The voice announced, “Now pulling into Yasoinaba Station. Please prepare to exit.”

Ren groggily hooked his shoulder bag over his arm and pulled his suitcase out from under his seat. He blinked away the remnants of his dream, only vaguely remembering being in the Velvet Room, though instead of learning about Personas or being insulted, he swears he heard the Halo theme, but that could be remnants of hiding in the school bathroom during lunch a couple of days ago. 

Ann is in a similar boat, rubbing sleep from her eyes and grabbing her duffle bag from an overhead rack. She slings the bags strap over her shoulder and mumbles about how she’s tired now. As she does so, she notices Ren’s book discarded on the floor, she picks it up and tucks it in his shoulder bag beside Morgana.

“I can’t wait to go right back to bed when we get to the inn…” Ryuji says, making it known that he’s functioning, and by the suitcase he dragged behind him, ready to go.

The train stops, the wheels screeching against the tracks. Ren and his friends shamble out of the train car and across the platform. The station is empty and bathed in orange from the sun. Ren pulled a brochure off a town map, he opened it to show a slightly smaller map compared to the one presented on the sign board. Ann and Ryuji peeked over his shoulders and Morgana poked his head out of Ren’s bag to look at the little map despite the much larger one being right there.

“So it looks like if we head directly north up this road, we should find it right away.” Ann explained to the rest of the group.

“I hope they’re still offering food, I’m dying here.” Ryuji adds, 

“We should get going,” Morgana says, and Ren can feel the sharp prick of cat claws on his arm, “it’s getting late.”

The walk to the Amagi Inn was calm, the street lights were dim but sufficient to keep them from getting lost. They passed what looked like a fabric store, and saw an alleyway that wasn’t noted on the map that led to an old shrine. Upon arriving at the inn, the group noticed how lively the inside seemed compared to the almost empty -save one or two folks wandering the streets- town. They were greeted at the front desk by a young woman with long black hair held with a red headband,

“Welcome to the Amagi Inn,” she said gently, “do you have rooms booked, or are you walk-ins?”

Ren stepped closer to the desk and responded, “We have one room booked… Under ‘Amamiya’”

The woman at the desk checked her book and tablet quickly before fetching some keys from a locked drawer behind the desk. “Your room is up on the second floor, in the leftmost hall. Would you like me to show you?”

“Oh, no tha-” Ren began,

“Nah,” Ryuji interrupted, “Can we get somethin’ to eat though?”

The woman nodded, “I’ll have our evening special sent up to your rooms right away.” She bowed, and started towards where the Phantoms assumed the kitchens were.

After a beat of reading the room keys’ tags, the Phantoms make their way towards the stairs at Ann’s lead. The room was nothing luxurious, but they were clean and pleasing to look at. Due to the traditional nature of the inn, in place of proper beds that were more common in Tokyo, there were futon sets rolled in the closet. The group rolled out three futons, with a bit of extra space between Ann’s and the boys -even with the money earned from LeBlanc and the heists, they couldn’t afford multiple rooms for a week in an inn and their usual expenses. It only took a few moments for the bedding to be set up and bags to be adequately unpacked. While waiting for food, Ann and Ryuji tried to hound Ren into playing Crazy Eights; nobody brought proper Uno cards, unfortunately. Morgana took to getting a scope out of the room, and settled like a security camera in the window sill, observing the empty street.

A knock on the door stopped any further attempts at card games, “Hello? Room service!” a voice called. Ren went to answer, and sent the young delivery boy off with a thanks and a decent tip. The “evening special” the lady at the desk talked about was a dish of meatballs and rice served with stir fried vegetables. Everyone wolfed down the meal in quick succession, it was pretty good all things considered. Morgana finished off Ren’s sushi from earlier, and he made sure to announce loudly that they were getting proper fish for later meals.

Ren collected up the dishes and set them on the small dresser in the room to bring down in the morning. He set an alarm for six, early enough to get ready and still have all day to explore, late enough that something will be open. Then, at Morgana’s... painful insistence, he and his friends turned in for the night.


	2. Tatsumi's Textiles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Exactly what it says on the tin, babes. The Phantom Founders meet Kanji at work.

Morning came to the Phantom Founders all too soon, Ren’s alarm blared from where his phone sat: right next to his head on his futon. Based solely on instinct and the demands of his parole officer, he reached for his glasses and put them on, the slight white tint of the plastic lenses made his groggy vision even blurrier for a moment. He went to sit up, and found himself stuck under Morgana, who was laying on his back. Ren’s first thought was “let the cat sleep, it’s too early to get up” but then his foggy mind filled in the smarter option of “get up, the cat wanted food and everyone needs to play tourist”. That logical part might also have been helped by Ann, already dressed in her usual oversized hoodie but today she paired it with black tights and denim shorts. She was standing at Ren’s face, nudging his shoulder with her foot,

“C’mon let’s go! I wanna go see all the shops! And the river!”

Ren acquiesced and pushed off the floor, sending Morgana tumbling -or as tumbling as a supernatural cat can go- off. Ren hid himself into the closet to get dressed, black and grey long sleeve with grey jeans. Upon exiting, he found Ryuji, dressed in the average get-up of ripped jeans, faded t-shirt with what once was a comic company logo and decorative chains on his belt loops, holding a decently sized handheld mirror for Ann as she tied her blonde hair into high pigtails.

“Ready to go?” Ryuji asked, excitement painting his face with a grin. Ren nodded, and grabbed his shoulder bag and jacket. 

The teens then headed out of the inn, the woman at the front desk -who was different from last night- called out a polite “Have a good day!” It was about six thirty by the time the Phantoms hit the streets. The sun has long since risen above the horizon, but it was still low enough to paint the sky a blend of blues and pinks over the shadows of the buildings of the shopping district. Yusuke would probably love to paint it, the group collectively thought, both Ren and Ann taking pictures.

Ren pulled out the brochure from his shoulder bag, deciding to set Morgana on the ground to walk along with them, “So, where to first?” the cat asked, sitting at Ren’s feet.

Considering the early hour, and the lack of activity in town, the floodplain seemed the best option. The river bank was quiet, a perfect place to spend the early hours of morning. Morgana had set himself in a shaded spot to watch the fish,

“As much as he cries he’s not a cat, he sure does a lotta cat shit.” Ryuji notes. The blond boy then drops himself onto the nearby bench, letting out a whistle at the bird perched on the overhead footbridge’s railing. 

Ann kept taking photos on her phone, occasionally pointing the camera to her friends, which lead to a comical juxtaposition between Ryuji posing dramatically across the bench (Paint me like one of your french girls style) and Ren standing, gripping his shoulder bag like he’s a junior high kid getting back to school pictures taken, the reflection of his glasses adding to the effect.

Suddenly, there was an aggressive splash from shortly upstream. A very flat, but loud “Holy shit!” rang across the otherwise empty area. When everyone looked, they saw a tackle box and pail on the bank of the river, a head poked out of the water before long, as did a fishing pole. 

“Should we… help them?” Ann asks after a beat,

Ren, who had not said a word up to this point, points to the guy who was in the process of crawling out of the river and answers, “No, look, he’s fine. Besides it’s seven, now, some of the stores at the shopping district should be open.”

Collecting their things, the Phantoms made their way back to the central shopping district. The first stop was the Tatsuhime Shrine, both at Ann’s request for photos of the landmark (she was hell bent on getting a bunch of pictures for a photo album and Yusuke) and because Ren wanted to know if there really was a strangely savant fox living there like there was in the books.

There is. Though she stayed hidden while most of the tourists, not that there were many at this hour, looked around and left offerings. She made herself known at about quarter after seven, once the early rush of travellers had finished paying their respects the fox had parked herself in front of the offertory box. Morgana hid partially behind Ann’s legs, only peeking out to watch Ryuji and Ren crouch down to coax the fox over. She yips and trots over to their outstretched hands. The boys pet the fox, who then trots off down the road.

‘Where to next?” Ren asks, 

“Why not that fabric store? Just to like, see what it’s like.” Ann says,

Ryuji pouts, “Awww I wanted to get food!” he whines dramatically.

Ren shakes his head, “Food’s not open, unless you want to go to Junes across town.”

The gang agrees to visit the shops until lunch, then head to Junes for a small brunch, then they could go ham on a fancy dinner at Aiya’s.

When Ren pushed the door to Tatsumi Textiles open, he and the Phantoms heard the tail end of a conversation,

“Yeah, she showed me on the skype call,” a familiar gentle voice says, “oh we’re having a team dinner at Aiya’s this weekend. Be sure to come, Kanji, see ya.”

“Alright, see you!” a much more masculine voice, Kanji, said. Then he turned to the group of teens at the door, “Welcome, can I help you with anything?” 

Ann immediately begins fawning over the fabrics displayed, looking almost frantically for some sort of clothing that she could keep as a souvenir. Ryuji and Morgana are less interested, but still take to perusing the threads and sewing supplies. Ren is standing borderline starstruck in the entryway, however. The young man sitting at the cash register matched the description of one of the characters in  _ The Midnight Channel _ , save the signature yellow of bottle blond hair being a natural black, but the scar on his temple and the job at a family textile shop was spot on.

“Uh, kid?” Kanji said, waving his hand in front of Ren’s eyeline. When did he walk over here? “You okay?”

Ren nodded stiffly, letting out a breath of “wow” followed by “Are you…?”

That little question tipped Kanji off and he made a knowing expression, “You read Yu’s books, eh? Yeah, I’m in ‘em. But if you got any questions not related to crochet, blunt force trauma caused by folding chairs or dyeing techniques, you’re gonna have to ask the others.”

“Did you say folding chairs?” Ryuji pipes up, having abandoned browsing in favour of finding out what had their leader so tied up.

Kanji fiddled awkwardly with his shirt collar, “Yeah… When I was about your guys’ age I got into a lot of fights. Fists or large things I could find laying around were my preferred weapons. It’s kinda the reason I met Yu and the others back then.” He put his focus back onto Ren, “I’d talk to Yu about the books, he’ll be around town. He loves hearing from fans and shit- er… “

“Thank you, Mr Tatsumi.” Ren says quietly. 

Kanji goes back to his post at the register to ring up Ann’s handful of fabrics, which she asked to be fashioned into scarves. On their way out the door, Kanji calls out, “Try Junes! We hung out there a lot.” And Ren responds with the OK hand sign.

While touring Yomenaido Books, Morgana decided to sate his curiosity, “What was that about? At the textile shop, why would it matter where the shopkeep spent his time?”

Ren shifted his gaze from the recipe book he was scanning through to the blue eyed cat in his bag. He grabbed the book that was in his bag, pulling it out from under Morgana who hissed. “He’s part of this series, he knows Narukami. And why do you care? We’re heading to Junes anyway to get you fish.”

“Oh,” the cat said, ducking back into the bag when a woman peeked into the aisle

“Did you hear a cat meow?” she asked.

Ren shook his head, and the woman hummed with confused acceptance. Ren then shot a glare at Morgana, “While we’re eating lunch I’ll boot up the Metanav, see if there’s some basic shadows to level grind with.” he whispered as to not disturb any other customers.

It was another five minutes before Ren had met Ryuji and Ann at the door, a small plastic bag filled with cookbooks and mystery novels -that only cost him about eight thousand yen- in his arms.

“I’m gonna die if we don’t get food soon, and it’s almost ten.” Ann notes, “We’re going to Junes, right?”

Ryuji pumps his fist excitedly, “Hell yeah! Food! And going by what the fabric guy said, we could run into somebody famous.” There was a pause as Ann quirked a brow inquisitively, “Well… famous to nerds, I guess.” Ryuji explained with a shrug.

There was a thud as Ren’s fist collided with Ryuji’s shoulder, “Rude.” was all he said. Ann hid a giggle behind her hand, Morgana, being a cat, and also not caring about any shard of dignity Ryuji had, offered no such courtesy and openly laughed at Ryuji’s pained apologies. Without further ado, the Phantoms began their trek to Junes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The whole bit of being at the textiles shop was supposed to be short. I extended the entire fic by about half a chapter by just not having them leave. At least I could squeeze in some Persona Classic very convenient unprompted dialogue.


	3. Junes is Pretty Cool!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Phantom Founders made it to Junes, time to see if the Metanav works the same out in the middle of Small Town, Japan. Or they would, had they not run into someone important.

Junes was both exactly like the Phantoms expected and nothing like it. They had been to shopping malls and superstores before, they lived in Tokyo after all, but this was a weird bastard child of any given city mall and Walmart. Walmart specifically because there was a strong western influence to it that wasn’t present in the typical Seiyu store. It was busy, or at least, they figured it was busy considering there was no aisle devoid of people, though it wasn’t packed full to the brim. Ryuji, Ann and Ren all wanted to hit the food court first, but they needed to pick up some canned fish and the grocery department was closer. The teens parted ways, each getting a set list of items to pick up, a divide and conquer approach that manages shopping and homework packets way better than Metaverse heists.

Ann was in charge of getting travel food, like granola bars, juice boxes, things that can be carried around all day to save money when out and about. She managed to pull a decent haul of backpack snacks without breaking the bank.

Ryuji was on non food essentials, picking up toothpaste, an extra tube of sunblock, pens (because you never have one when you need it) and other such goods. He was also able to meet the needs of his troupe without going broke.

Ren did major groceries, or as major as you can for staying in a hotel. He picked up canned tuna and salmon for Morgana, a case of water, and other commodities like apples and berries.

Once all the shopping was done, Ann, Ryuji, Ren and Morgana all convened at a table near a fountain in the Junes food court. The smell of fast food called to the hungry teens and they divvy up what yen they had set aside for brunch while they argue about what to get. It took a bit of deliberating, but everyone decided that getting burgers from the McDonald’s that was tucked in the corner would be the best option to suit everyone’s tastes for the hour. Ren volunteered to hold their table with Morgana while Ann and Ryuji ordered and collected the burgers. It had nothing to do with finishing his chapter, not at all.

“If you don’t wanna check out the Metaverse here, can you at least feed me?” Morgana whines, pawing at one of the plastic bags sitting on the floor under Ren’s feet. The cat nosed his way into the bags, searching for something he could get into.

Ren placed his open book cover up on the table with a sigh, “Fine… Only if Ryuji got a can opener, otherwise you're eating fries and chicken nuggets.” He fished around for a can of tuna in one of his Junes bags, then did the same for a can opener in the bags near Ryuji’s sweater. The tuna can was opened and left on the floor for Morgana to use as his food bowl, the cat purred gratefully, rubbing his head against Ren’s ankle in the way only cats do before mowing into the fish. Ren picked his book back up to where he left off once again, hoping to at least finish the page before his friends came back with food.

“Wow!” Ren heard a gasp, the voice high pitched and youthful, “Mister! Mister! Is that a cat?” the voice, now evidently belonging to a little girl, about eleven, her brown hair pulled into long pigtails behind her ears. The girl was looking at Ren with such unabashed enthusiasm, practically bouncing in place as she pointed to the very obvious cat under the table.

Ren nodded and went back to his book, “You can pet him if you want,” he said softly.

“Really? Thanks, mister!” the girl exclaimed, immediately crouching down to run her hands along Morgana’s black fur. “Big bro would love to meet you, he loves cats!” she cooed. The girl stood, quietly eyeballing the cover of the book Ren was hiding behind -hey, he didn’t sign up for babysitting! Ren shot a glance towards his friends, still waiting to order, unfortunate.

“Um… can I help you?” Ren asks, not moving his book from his face.

“My name’s Nanako,” the girl says, “What’cha reading?” She then plops herself down into the seat next to Ren, being careful enough not to kick Morgana at least.

Never missing an opportunity to ramble on about his books, Ren dog-ears his page and shows Nanako the cover, “The Midnight Channel, it’s a book about a bunch of kids going into another world to fight monsters. It’s really cool!”

Nanako let out another happy gasp, “That sounds just like the books Big Bro wrote! He gave me a set of them, but I haven’t actually started reading them yet…”

“Give them a chance, if you can,” Ren smiles awkwardly, “Wait. You said ‘Big Bro’, right? Is he or your parents here with you, why are you alone?”

Nanako grinned, “I’m not alone, my big bro is here. He’s just getting us some lunch. Are you here by yourself?”

Ren shook his head no. Morgana, having finished cleaning out his tuna can, decided to jump up onto Nanako’s chair, relishing in the gentle pets she gave. Nanako cooed at Morgana, leaving Ren to read and check on his friends, who were now waiting for food.

Suddenly, there was a young man, carrying a tray of sushi, sprinting over towards Ren’s table, “Nanako! There you are.” he exclaimed with a Lacroix flavour’s worth of emotion that sounded related to relief.

Nanako stopped petting Morgana to jump up and dash into the man’s open arms, “Bro, it’s been like five minutes!” she giggled, then her voice went sort of regretful, “I forgot to get a table for us… sorry.”

Ren watched the man ruffle Nanako’s hair, skillfully balancing the sushi tray in one hand, he was speaking in a quiet voice that Ren couldn’t hear. Though he was able to hear Nanako say, “I was petting this guy’s cat!”

“I want to argue I’m not a cat, but I feel like it’d fall on deaf ears,” Morgana says, vaguely in the direction of Ren,

“Did… Did your cat just talk?”

Ren twisted himself in his seat to give his full attention to the man addressing him. He had short grey hair that couldn’t be natural, and eyes that matched, a leather jacket with the collar popped over a white t-shirt. The man couldn’t be older than twenty-one, but it was still weird in Ren’s mind how he could have a sister almost half his age. “You could understand him?” was his reply.

The man nodded, “I guess I should introduce myself. Yu Narukami, thank you for watching over Nanako.” 

Ren’s breath caught in his throat, there was no way he accidentally managed to run into bestselling author Yu Narukami on his first proper day in Inaba. He swallowed thickly, “My name is Ren. Ren Amamiya. Nice to meet you, sir.” he stuttered.

Ryuji and Ann returned to the lunch table -rambling on about “something, something, bipedal blue bear”- just to watch their fearless leader duck his head in embarrassment as Nanako announced, “He likes your books, big bro! Give him an autograph.”

Yu blinked, “Oh sure, did you want me to sign something?”

Ren blushed, nodding, he slowly pushed his copy of Cage of the Sparrow over. He felt a smidgen of relief when Yu whipped out a pen and scribbled something on the inside cover and handed the book back without any extra fanfare.

“So, who’s your friend?” Ann asks, punctuated with her munching on a couple of french fries, 

Ryuji cut in as he dropped next to Ren, “And why’d he sign your book?”

“Uh…”

Yu smiled politely, “I’m Yu Narukami, and this is my cousin, Nanako.” Cousin, that explained the age gap. Nanako had offered to shake hands, which both Ryuji and Ann returned graciously as they introduced themselves.

“Nice to meet’cha,” Ryuji said, “but that doesn’t explain why you signed Ren’s book.”

Ren bit his lip, his nose burnt of embarrassment in front of somebody he looked up to, “He… he wrote the book.”

“Yeah, Ryuji,” Morgana chastised smugly, “don’t you remember the fabric store?”

Ryuji, not wanting to be a bad example in front of the child, simply nudged the cat with his foot. Ann smothered her giggles with her burger, arranging the sushi tray Yu had set on the table a moment ago so that Nanako and Yu could sit and eat. Morgana hopped up on the bench beside Yu, who began pampering the animal with affectionate scratching right behind his ear.

“See, this is how you treat a cat.” Morgana said,

“I thought you weren’t a cat, though” Ren mumbled instinctively,

Yu stopped petting Morgana, recoiling like he’d touched a flame. His first instinct was to see if anybody else noticed, it seemed nobody did. Yu looked to Ren, who looked like he felt his soul just leave his body, “So… The cat does talk?”

Ren nodded slowly, then he had a revelation, “You actually can understand him?”

That got Ryuji and Ann’s attention, “Wait, what!?”

Yu went back to absently petting Morgana, who purred in a very cat-like way. “Apparently he can understand me,” the cat says, “maybe he can use the Metaverse.”

“The what?”

Ann shook her head, “Guess not. It’s pretty cool you can understand him, though.” then, she turned to Ryuji and Ren, “Did we ever figure out the criteria for that?”

The boys responded in the negative. Though there seemed to be something that clicked in the back of Ren’s head, something to do with the Midnight Channel.

“Anywho,” Ryuji interjected, “You’re the guy that’s famous to nerds? The one the fabric store clerk was talking about?”

This seemed to take Yu by surprise, “So you’ve met Kanji?”

“He’s the one Shinji Katsuko is based off of, in the book?” Ren asks with a bit of hesitance,

Ann then asks, “Did you and your friends really solve murders?”

“Yep. I’d be happy to introduce you to the whole investigation team, or most, Naoto is in Tokyo this month for work. But everyone else is here.”

As the Phantom Founders are excitedly agreeing to meet with the team, a young man with strangely copper hair sporting a Junes branded apron wanders over.

“Yo!” he calls with a wave, “Thank goodness you and Nanako are still here, Teddie and I were hoping to have dinner at yours tonight. I’ve been craving that sweet curry you made for ages!”

Yu looked at the man, a slight twitch visible at the corner of his mouth. Nanako immediately started tugging at her big bro’s sleeve with both hands, “Can we have them over? Please? Daddy won’t mind!”

Yu chuckled, “Of course.” He turns to the Phantoms, “You guys have no plans for dinner, right?”

Ren immediately shook his head, his companions following suit. Free food? Spending more time with local legend and the sweetest angel on earth? Why would you say no.

“Oh, hey.” the other man says, “I’m Yosuke Hanamura, this guy’s partner. I take it you’re coming too, then?”

The teens nodded hesitantly, “Sweet! Yu is the best cook, and Dojima-san is really chill too. Well, I gotta get back to work before my dad kills me, see you later!” Yosuke waves and squeezes Yu’s shoulder before heading back into the main building.

Yu then starts collecting up the mess of his and Nanako’s lunch, “Well… We should get going, I’ll see you guys later.” then he hands a napkin to Ren, it had an address on it, “C’mon, Nanako.”

Nanako took Yu’s hand, said goodbye to the Phantom Founders, who all cheerfully sent them off, and followed her cousin out of the food court. There was a minute where the entire scene slowly sinking in. Ren was practically vibrating in joy, while Ann and Ryuji were celebrating free dinner. Morgana hopped up on the table, “Alright, now let’s try out the MetaNav. We’ve got a couple hours.”

“Should we try out Yu’s name? Considering he could speak Mona?” Ryuji asked. Ann nodded and opened up her phone,

“Okay, Metanav?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two things,
> 
> 1) Ren totally has a huge ass celebrity crush on Yu and I will bully him for it in writing -though I am not nasty there is no protagshipping happening here  
> 2) I am stuffing this thing chock full of references to Persona themed internet things, maybe it should be a game to find them all


	4. Graphic Descriptions of Cooking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's food time! Almost. Gotta cook it first, unfortunately. But, at least there's a lead about the link between understanding Morgana and the magical monsters of The Midnight Channel.

Turns out, the Metaverse Navigator was still impossible to use effectively without a whole bunch of information, but at least the Phantoms knew for sure Yu Narukami wasn’t a match to any palaces. Mementos wasn’t really present in the way that it was at the subway station in Shibuya. Morgana did mention sensing something weird near the electronic section of Junes but they didn’t find anything in the Metaverse or out. After about an hour of wandering in a surreal black and red bastardization of the superstore, the Phantoms decided maybe old work could wait and instead they should drop their shopping off at their room and continue sight-seeing. The trek back to the inn was longer than they expected, and it left little time to really explore between then and when they deemed appropriate to show up for dinner. Instead of really bothering with seeing the sites, the Phantom founders just head up to the Dojima residence, with help of the addressed napkin and good old Google Maps.

They were passing through the southern half of the shopping district when Ryuji spotted it. How they all missed it on their first round through the area was astounding.

“Dude! We gotta check this out!” Ryuji exclaimed, violently dragging his friends to the shop front. The sign read “Daidara Metalworks” and the window, though tinted, revealed extravagant metal figurines and what looked like a suit of armor. As Ryuji pulled them through the door, Ren has a moment of revelation, 

“This is where Narukami-san would get weapons and armor for the Investigation Team…” he said distantly, “Their own personal Iwai.”

The shopkeep was nowhere to be found, judging by the clang of metal coming from further in the building, the assumption was that he was in his workshop area, making metal works. The Phantoms browsed the surprisingly vast collection of swords, rings, statuettes and shoes? Why those were there, was anybody's guess; maybe Mr Daidara was dabbling in leatherworking too, who knows?

Ren busies himself fawning over a very intricate sort of kunai, he was tempted to buy it, it even came with a matching second to form a pair. Just as the teen pulled his phone out to check his bank account, he was distracted by Ryuji nudging his shoulder to get his attention,

“Hey Renren,” he starts, voice mischievous, “Do you think buying something from this guy would count as, like, cheating, on Iwai. I mean, you’re such a loyal customer, he’d probably hate to hear you had a new arms dealer.” 

Ren glared at his snickering friend like he had just declared in complete confidence that water is dry, before suddenly switching gears, “Holy shit, you’re right!” he whispers, then he shouts, “We need to leave, now!”

Ren turns on his heel to find Ann standing directly behind him, holding her phone to his nose, “It’s four, we needed to go ten minutes ago.” 

And with that the trio, cat in the bag, scurry their way to their actual destination. Ann rings the doorbell, immediately Nanako is pushing the door open to invite them inside. Morgana leaped out of Ren’s bag to make himself comfortable on one of the cushions around the coffee table. Once their shoes were off, everyone followed suit.

“Yo! What are we doing for food?” Ryuji asks, dropping onto the cushion beside Morgana, nearly launching the cat into the air. Ren and Ann decided to occupy the ends of the couch, Nanako hopping up between them with a book in her hands. She shows the cover to Ren, _The Midnight Channel: Mask of Glass_ it read; Ren gave the girl a proud thumbs up.

“The plan was to make a coconut curry,” Yu stated, appearing from nowhere, “but we didn’t have enough ingredients to feed all eight of us. So instead, I was thinking of fried shrimp and vegetables over rice.”

That answer seemed to satisfy Ryuji. Ann eyed Ren mischievously over Nanako’s head, “That’s too bad, actually,” she says with her usual poor theatrics, “Ren is a professional with curry, he could have helped out. To repay the kindness, you know?”

Ren in turn glared at Ann with all the mortification he could muster, she responded with a peace sign. Ann then looked like she had a revelation, “I mean… you are a really fast learner, Ren. Why don’t you help out anyway?”

Morgana had said something in agreement, but Ren was too busy focusing on the light terror building in his chest to really hear it. This was not like cooking alone, or with Sojiro, or for friends normally, this was doing something casual with a famous person he looked up to. Then again, Ren reasoned, it would be a good excuse as any to ask the questions budding in his mind. “Sure, I can help. If it’s alright with you, of course.” he stuttered hastily.

Yu simply nodded and turned to the kitchen, Ren shot up from the couch and rushed over to wash his hands in the sink. Yu did the same, then pulled a large frying pan out of the cupboard and a silicone spatula out of the drawer above it. Ren patiently awaited instruction as Yu poured a decent amount of teriyaki sauce into the pan and pulled a bag of formerly frozen shrimp out of the fridge. Upon not receiving any, Ren decided initiative must be taken and he dug into the drawers of the fridge to fetch bell peppers, a zucchini, an onion, mushrooms, and a couple of carrots, then he set them across a section of the small kitchen counter to search for a cutting board and a knife or two.

Yu had wordlessly handed him a paring knife and offered a guiding point towards the bamboo cutting board that was tucked just out of sight. Once the last of his tools were secured, Ren went to work slicing and dicing the different types of produce. Yu turned the burner with the teriyaki shrimp to a low heat and partially covered the pan with a lid, then he filled a pot with water and emptied a container of jasmine rice into the water before setting the pot onto another burner and leaving it to boil. Yu eventually began taking handfuls of the vegetables Ren had chopped and tossed them into the pan with the shrimp, stirring them into the sauce with the spatula, Ren went to give the rice a quick stir with a wooden spoon, adding a sprinkle of garlic powder to the water. 

The two continued to work in silence for a few more moments, simply listening to the sound of water steaming and sauce simmering in the kitchen, and the tv in the living room behind them. That is, until Ren’s curiosities finally bested his fear of embarrassment, “Um, Narukami-san?”

Yu looked over to the teen, who was tugging at and twirling the lock of hair between his eyes nervously.

“Can I ask you a question about your books?” Ren asks shyly, Yu nods, “Why is the main character called Zee-kun? Most of your characters have names related to their arcs and personalities or are based on their real life counterparts.”

Yu tensed a touch, like he didn’t actually know what to say. There was some visible deliberation in Yu’s head, should he admit that it was stolen from that one time he named his Rune Factory character “ZZZZZ” as a joke or use the clever cover up created for when people asked about it in public. Fuck it, Ren counts as public. “I figured using an odd name,” Yu explained easily, “would give the character an extra bit of ‘otherness’ and have him stick out to the reader.”

Ren seemed to take it at face value, the pair went back to their preparations.

“Oh, one more thing, Narukami-san.” Ren says, pouring a bit of excess rice water into the sink.

“Just call me Yu, I’m not that important.”

“Okay, Yu-san, the powers those kids had in the books…” Ren hesitates, hoping his hunch was right, “They came from the characters accepting a part of themselves they didn’t like or know about, right?”

Yu nodded silently from where he was cutting slices of cucumber and cheese.

Ren puts the rice pot back onto the stove top, “Does the term…” he takes a breath, “‘Persona’ mean anything to you?”

Yu pauses in his slicing, his head shoots up, then around to look at Ren, “Yeah, actually-”

The initial commotion coming from the front door cut Yu off in his tracks. The subsequent cry of “Sensei!” as a young man with bright blond hair charged in and tackled Yu into a hug didn’t help matters. Ren could only watch, taken aback by the sudden intrusion. He had partially forgotten that he and his cohorts were hardly the only guests for dinner, Yosuke following the small blond into the kitchen cemented that. The blond had skipped out on introducing himself, likely not even seeing Ren, and practically flew into the living room to talk with Nanako. Yosuke helped with plating the rice and shrimp, whining all the while about curry. Before long, the coffee table was covered with food and cups and the like. Then, the door opens once again to find Dojima coming home from work.

“Oh! You’re new!” The blond says as Ren sits on the floor, “I’m Teddie, Inaba’s resident friendly bear!”

Before Ren could even think of introducing himself, Ryuji had to say something that stole the lungs from his body, “But… you’re totally a twink though?”

Everyone stopped, if a heart was beating, it was heard. Both Nanako and Teddie looked around confusedly.

“Big Bro,” Nanako asks innocently, “what’s a twink?”

Yu, and every other full time human adult were all painted with acute fear for a moment. Especially Dojima, who was rapidly doing the “cut!” gesture.

“Er…”

Then, possessed by that small need to cause copious amounts of psychic damage in one sitting, Ren said, “Me. I’m a twink.”

Chaos ensued.

Dojima choked, Yosuke was in the same boat, both Yu and Ann just dropped their faces into their hands. Ren felt shame build suddenly in his bones.

“You really stole my kidneys with that one…” Ann muttered, causing Ryuji to burst into laughter. Gradually, everyone followed suit. Once everyone was breathing more or less evenly, Dojima had managed to snag a spot on the couch, sharing a knowing, pained expression with Yu. Nanako and Teddie still seemed at a loss.

There was a pause, “Why a ‘bear’ exactly?” Ren asked.

Yosuke answered between coughs, “He works part time as a bear mascot at Junes. And it’s kind of been his whole shtick for a while.”

That sufficed. Hunger seemed to take the forefront of everyone’s minds, Ann took the first bite. One turned to two, which turned to her fork moving so fast it was a blur. The rest of the Phantoms and the few members of the IT followed in tandem, Nanako and Dojima going at a much safer pace.

“This is surprisingly good!” Ann said, clearing her plate.

Dojima chuckled, made a show of ruffling Yu’s hair and said, “Yeah that’s our boy. Been the cook since 2011.”

Morgana snickered, “Kinda like Joker, huh? He cooked for the Phantom Thieves.” He forgot that to normal people, he meowed like a cat.

“Narukami, did you sneak another damn cat in the house?” Dojima sighed.

Morgana hopped onto Ren’s lap, “Sorry, sir,” Ren said, “He’s mine.”

Dojima sighed again, “That reminds me… Why do we have three new children in the house?”

Yu huffed uncomfortably, “I met them at Junes. Then Yosuke met them. We invited them to dinner.”

Soon enough, Yu and Yosuke began frantically apologizing simultaneously, it was certainly a sight. The Phantoms stayed stock still in their places as this scene transpired in front of them. It dragged on way too long, with Dojima just glaring disapprovingly and Yu and Yosuke acting much more like kids than adults in their apologies.

Nanako then stood, going to step between her dad and Yu. She stared down all parties with murder in her eyes and declared, “No fighting!”

Surprisingly that cooled everyone down. Ann was quick to collect dishes while Nanako helped. The Phantoms offered to help with cleanup but were denied in favour of waiting until later. Instead, the tv was switched to the news and it was decided that everybody would just hang out for a bit. Eventually, Dojima heads to the kitchen,

“Hey, kids, I’m making coffee. How do you take it?” he asks,

“With cream?” Ann says.

“Cream and sugar,” Ren answers.

Ryuji looks around, then into his lap awkwardly, “Can I just have… a soda? Coffee’s too, I dunno, not good.”

Dojima nods, understanding. Nanako gives a pleading look to her father, and when he gives a resigned “Okay.” she declares with more force than necessary,

“Daddy, I want it black!”

Once again, all Dojima can do is sigh. He was not expecting his evening to be just as hectic, or at least busy, as work. “Black with sugar for the big kids, and chocolate milk for Teddie, right?”

Yosuke shot Dojima a thumbs up, “You got it! Just one cup for Yu and I, I’ll just steal from him.”

Later, once the hot drinks were both dispersed and drank - Ryuji and Teddie both being lightly bullied for their chocolate milk - it was time for Nanako to head to bed. Dojima retired not long later, despite the early hour. To his credit, he is old and overworking himself. 

Yu returned to his guests after tucking Nanako in, taking a spot on the couch that had freed up in everybody’s rearranging. Immediately Yosuke took the spot right next to Yu, and Ryuji - whose leg was giving him grief - migrated to the couch as well.

“About earlier, Yu-san,” Ren says, “Personas. You know about them, right?”

And Yu, cradling the almost empty cup of coffee in his hands as he leaned against Yosuke, smiled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter just kept going and I know it really isn't up to snuff with the other three... But I had to get it done. Next chapter's forecast: a lot of exposition and spoilers for essentially the general plots of P4 and P5 with brief mentions of P4DAN


	5. À Demain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time to go to the TV World! We can compare it to the Metaverse! *looks at clock* Oh damn it...

"I found out about Personas after we had met Teddie the second time; however my formal introduction to the concept was in the Velvet Room on the train to Inaba." Yu explained.

Ren, Ryuji, Ann and Morgana listened intently. The mention of the Velvet Room standing out notably. Yu continued his explanation, he detailed the first fight with shadows, the strange fog, and the warped Inaba of the other world.

In a pause in the exposition, Ren brought the Velvet Room up once again. He wanted to know if his hellish experience was an outlier, or meant to be, or even if the Velvet Room staff - for lack of a better term- were always like that. It turns out that only Yu really knew anything about the Velvet Room, so the Wild Cards felt obligated to explain,

“You guys remember when I would talk about fusing Personas? And the weird old man?” Ren asks his companions, they all affirm the positive.

Ryuji nods knowingly, “The dissociation corner… Always right outside a palace.”

“That’s what it looked like?” Yu asks flatly,

“Wait, wait, wait!” Ann interrupts, flapping her hands emphatically, “So you went to this ‘other world’ that had weirdly manipulated aspects of the town that reflected whoever’s shadow you fought, right?”

“In so many words, yes.”

“But you don’t know what the ‘Metaverse’ is..?” she asks hesitantly

Yu inhaled, “Ah, no.”

Ann’s face pinched in frustration, she then took an unsatisfied sip of her coffee. There was once again, an unasked question in the air. However, this question was not being asked due to the curious ones not knowing what the question was.That is, until Ryuji said, in a stroke of genius,

“What about Teddie? You guys said he introduced you guys to the Persona thing.”

Yosuke was the one who responded -after of course, trying to take a sip of the recently empty mug he and Yu shared. “Hey, yeah. Ted, do you know about the Meta-whatever?”

“Metaverse!” Morgana corrected.

As much as Yosuke wanted to retort that he was tired, and old and didn’t really give a shit, he figured that would be rude and nobody would listen anyways. So, he decided against it and just rolled his eyes at the cat.

Teddie made a big show of wracking his brain for anything related to “Metaverse” in his memories. Every second that passes is another few centimetres that the Phantom Founders leaned in the bear’s direction, anticipating some grand revelation. Teddie’s face eventually falls, “I’m bear-y sorry guys… I don’t know. I know the other world is my home, I used to be a shadow, after all, but I never did learn its name.” he says, resigned and almost teary.

“That’s right,” Yosuke adds, “we’ve just been calling it the ‘TV World’ in any official capacity.”

“Don’t forget ‘The Shadow Realm’.” Yu says, a light smile audible in his voice.

“And the Shadow Realm, I guess…”

The unasked and unknown question finally made itself known to the Phantom Thieves. A question so important and basic, it’s a shock they didn’t think of it the second “another world” was mentioned. Not to mention, for certain bookworms with some questions about their favourite books, it could be helpful information. Who knows?

Ren downs the last of his now lukewarm coffee, adjusts his glasses and starts twisting a strand of hair around his finger. The whole “nervously ask what could possibly be a dumb or embarassing question” sequence. The sudden rush of movement drew eyes to him, and he ever so hesitantly asked, “How… Uh, how did, how did you guys go to the other world?”

“Ain’t it explained in your books there, Renren?” Ryuji asks,

Ren and Yu shake their heads simultaneously, “I left it vague, and before you ask, no I can’t remember exactly why. If anything, how we got to the TV world was so unique it probably would have been better to explain.” Yu notes.

The repeated mention of “TV” and the fact that the embellished memoirs of the Investigation Team are called “The Midnight Channel” had a few cogs turning in Ren’s head.

Teddie suddenly shot up from his space on the floor, “We could show you! C’mon, let’s go!”

The Phantom Founders immediately started to tidy up so they could go see this TV world. There was a hectic rush of collecting mugs and bags and shoes before a clock was pointed out by Yu.

“As much as I’d love to show you how the TV World works, it’s well past closing at Junes, and in fact it’s well past when we all should’ve gone to bed.” the author says plainly,

“So says the man who wouldn’t go to bed before midnight unless he gave himself actual food poisoning earlier in the day.” Yosuke chides, it comes off as more affectionate than accusatory.

The Phantom Thieves collectively droop, feeling both disappointed and, after reading the time (About 10pm), the early workings of fatigue. It’s a mutual decision for the Phantoms to go back to the inn, Yu would have offered them a ride, but he didn’t have his license and Yosuke’s motorcycle only sat two.

“Well, we can always see tomorrow?” Ann says hopefully,

Yu nods, “I have a psychology class in Okina tomorrow morning, but I’ll be back in town around one o’clock.”

Plans are made, emails exchanged, and before long Yosuke is guiding a yawning, stumbling Teddie to a cheap motorbike in the Dojima driveway and bidding goodbye to the teens shuffling in a similar direction. 

The walk back to Amagi Inn dragged long, it was dark, quiet, and everybody was getting hit hard with their own exhaustion. By the time the kids made it to their room, the caffeine crashed barrelled in like a steam engine and the late hour after a long day of walking left their muscles aching. 

Pyjamas were forgotten by all, Ann crawling into her futon with her hair still up, not bothering to plug her phone in, and instead just curling up and passing out. Morgana, being the most durinal cat to ever exist, didn’t take long to claim territory on Ren’s futon and turn in for the night. Ryuji and Ren managed to swap their jeans for something more comfortable, be it just boxers in Ren’s case, or sweat pants in Ryuji’s. The pair of boys dropped unceremoniously soon thereafter into Ryuji’s futon, half under the blanket, half not, with Ren removing his glasses as carefully as his half asleep hands could so he could tuck his head onto Ryuji’s shoulder. The blond coaxed his human blanket to sleep quickly by playing with his hair, the deep rooted tiredness and the rhythmic drone of steady breaths and heartbeats lulling him to sleep right after.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is so spaced out, I tried to extend this chapter to fit the average WC but oh well, haha


	6. Junes 2: Electric Boogaloo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Phantom Thieves' Founders return to Junes to enter the infamous TV World, meet some more of the IT and... Wait on Yu to get out of class. Damn college courses not adhering to high school holidays.

As much as the trip was to avoid the Big City Vibes and combat (preferably), the Phantom Founders were super excited to go to Junes as morning came. There were a couple hours between when the Phantom’s re-entered the open world at eleven and when they all agreed to meet at Junes at one. The Phantoms were quick to learn there wasn’t really much to do for sightseeing, no back alley arcade or anything! At one point, Ryuji suggested climbing up to Yasogami high school because it was on a huge hill and the view would be worth the exercise. 

“We can even stop at that little tofu shop by the weaponsmith!” the blond had said, excitement painting his features in a way that was hard to say no to.

On the way there, the name Kujikawa came up in relation to Marukyu Tofu and Ann had then spent ten minutes gushing about how cool it was that a popular idol came from such a little area.

The walk was pleasant, if quite long. Plenty of folks about high school age milled about in the shopping district, the volume of pedestrians slowly fading out as they approached the peak of the hill. The school building itself was nothing special, your standard 3 storey box with a slightly smaller box attached to it. There was a small soccer field out behind the practice building where some kids were kicking a ball around. Further behind the school building was a decent place to overlook the town.

“You know,” Ann says, dropping dramatically to the ground, “This would be a cool place to have a picnic.”

The boys each affirm the positive, taking a seat on either side of Ann in the grass. Ren cracks open Cage of the Sparrow to his marked page and sets into reading. Ryuji downs half a gatorade, offering the remainder to both Ren and Ann, the latter taking a few quick gulps, and just stretches out in the sunlight filtering through the clouds. Morgana is not too far off, kneading at the dirt and watching the occasional ladybug crawl by.

Ann then jerks upright, “Wait, if the view is what we’re after, shouldn’t we try up on the roof?”

“Sounds like a good idea!” Ryuji exclaims, leaping to his feet and heading towards the main doors. Ren follows behind Ann, nose still buried in the paperback he held. He heard the sound of effort, then some whines of frustration from Ryuji.

“It’s locked, isn’t it?” he asked.

Ryuji kicked at a pebble, “Yeah… Shoulda figured, it is summer break after all. Shujin’d be closed too.”

“Morgana did I bring my lockpicks?” Ren asked, already rifling through his pockets and bag, book precariously dropped to the ground. The front cover is going to have a nasty crease, but that doesn’t matter, a man is on a mission!

The cat cocked his head as if to say “How should I know?”, he also said it with his mouth, which helped the sentiment translate quite well.

Ren managed to find one stray lockpick in the internal pocket of his bag, and started towards the school doors. Ann stopped him, grabbing his shoulder and spinning him around.

“Ren, c’mon! You got off probation like, two months ago. Do you really need to get arrested again?” her voice is firm and just on this side of condescending. 

Ren just grimaced guiltily and averted his eyes. Ryuji scoffed, “Wasn’t the roof your idea?”

“Yeah, if it was open!” Ann rebuked indignantly, crossing her arms, “I didn’t say to dabble in real life B and E!”

Ryuji put his hands up in surrender and stepped back, “Alright, alright, that’s fair. You did not in fact mention B and E…”

Ren had since gotten over his shame and picked his book up off the ground. He took a peek at the time, 12:03. “Hey guys?” he says, “Let’s uh, head back towards Junes.”

Ryuji and Ann’s temperaments switched in less than a second. The pair of them linking arms and marching off alternating chants of “TV World!” and “Junes!” while Ren and Morgana followed at a healthy distance.  
Junes looked the same as it had the last time they had been in, neon coloured cardboard signs detailing sales and promotions while patrons filled aisle after aisle of groceries and clothing, only spread thin enough to traverse smoothly in the open space of the food court. It was about twelve-thirty when the Phantom Founders arrived, early enough to enjoy both grabbing a drink and not being late. They managed to snag a table by what looked like a small coffee chain location. Ren went to get drinks from the little coffee place, Ryuji all but collapsed into a seat, kicking the foot on his bad leg onto the chair opposite him and letting his head loll back with a satisfied sigh, and Ann glanced around and took in the ever but never changing surroundings. She noticed a bored looking girl with an impossibly complicated hairstyle in a Junes uniform wiping down tables, families waiting in line for food, a fountain and a 5 foot tall blue bear mascot.

Wait… Bear? Mascot?

“Teddie!” She shouts before she realizes, waving cheerily and startling Ryuji. The bear turned in the Phantom’s direction and, if possible, the grin on the bear suit got wider and he bounded over.

“Hello again, Ann-chan! Ryuji-kun! It’s bear-y nice to see you again so soon.” Teddie greets with dramatic flair, “Sensei should be getting out of school soon, but if you want I can direct you to electronics now!”

Ann smiled, “No thanks, I think we should wait for Yu-san, besides, you’re still working.”

“Right… Thanks, Teddie,” Ryuji manages, still overcoming his last heart attack.

Teddie deflated, but quickly brightened again, “Well I finish in ten minutes anyway, we can wait for Sensei together!” Then Teddie bounced off to finish off his mascot duties elsewhere. Ann and Ryuji started to slip back into a lean back and relax mode when Ren appeared from nowhere with a tray of cold drinks. Both Ann and Ryuji jump almost a foot out of their seats.

“Brought drinks.” Ren says coolly, “Almond milk coffee is Ann’s, italian sodas are for you and I to decide on, Ryuji.”

“I’ll take the green one,” Ryuji says as Ann takes her coffee with a thank you.

The teens sat at their table quietly for a few precious minutes, enjoying the ambient noise of people that reminded them of home. All too soon, Teddie came practically skipping over, ruining any sense of silence within the surrounding five feet. Though he came dragging Yosuke and somebody else. This new person was a woman, shorter than Yosuke but still pretty tall, with tawny hair cut into a shaggy bob and brown eyes. She was wearing an emerald green tank top and white skirt revealing toned arms and legs and had a scarlet hoodie tied around her waist.

“Hey guys! I’m done work! And look who I found!” Teddie grins, releasing his willing captives upon reaching the table.

“Ted, dude what have I told you about doing that?” Yosuke scolded, out of breath. The woman just laughed.

“I’m Chie Satonaka, one of the first members of the Investigation Team,” she says, “Yosuke was telling me about you guys. Nice to meetcha!”

Ren stood, “Ren Amamiya, ma’am!” he bows, “These are my friends, Ann Takamaki and Ryuji Sakamoto.”

Chie snorts, “Alright kid, calm down. No need for formalities. So I hear Yu is taking you to the TV world?”

“Yep! We’re s’posed to meet in a few minutes.” Ryuji answers,

Yosuke nods to Chie, “Yu’s on his way over now, class let out early enough to catch the 12:40 train instead of the 1:10.”

The group continues chatting amiably about their going ons and plans. Chie offered at least two speed tours of Inaba that were declined politely with no hard feelings. Conversation inevitably circles back to the whole Persona thing, but rather than the semantics and finer intricacies of the different “collective unconscious” dimensions, it was about their abilities.

“Now when I first got Tomoe, my persona before it evolved, they had equal parts bufu spells and physical spells,” Chie explains, “but as I got stronger more of my powers leaned towards the physical damage aspect. Though I didn’t skip out on the magic portion completely.”

“Wow! My persona was kind of like that, I started with a balance of agi and dia spells, then went more towards agi as time went on.” Ann says, then the conversation is broken up by a phone buzzing. Everyone’s hands went right to their pockets, only to find only Ann’s phone was ringing. “Sorry,” she said, “It’s Shiho, I gotta take this. One minute! Er, Hey babes…” Ann walked a short distance away from the table for some privacy.

“What about you, Ryuji?” Chie asks, resting her chin on her hand.

Ryuji furrowed his brow, “My persona? I had lightning powers, but my main role was tanking so Captain Glass Cannon over here,” he gestures to Ren, “could play persona roulette until we found a shadow’s weakness.”

Teddie nodded sagely, “A wise decision,” his demeanor becomes perky once again, “Just like how Sensei worked! Though he didn’t have a gun to try out.”

“What’s this about guns?” A soft voice asks from Ryuji’s left.

Yosuke punched Yu’s shoulder lightly, “Jesus, Partner, don’t go sneaking up on people like that!” Yu responded with an apologetic shrug.

Conveniently, Ann was returning from a few feet over, having wrapped up her phone call. She greets Yu, then sits down, “Well, should we get going?” she asks.

Everyone agrees, so they gather their things, dropping empty cups in the trash and navigating to the electronics section. The electronics section is as busy as it’s ever been, that is to say, not very. Yu swiftly guides everyone to a widescreen TV in the back end of the department, out of the way of prying eyes. A mischievous glint in his eye as he turns to the juniors of the group, “Well, Ann, Ryuji, Ren?” Yu says, fixing each with a pointed glance, “Want to see something cool?”

And he shoved his hand into the screen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So remember what I said about the Tatsumi Textiles chapter? How it was supposed to be short and to the point but ended up getting away from me? Yeah.... That happened again.
> 
> However! I've added A Chie! And projected my gameplay style onto the Phantom Thieves. As a side note, my combat in P4 vs P5 are almost opposites, but I won't go into that right now


	7. Enter the Shadow Realm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eight Persona Users enter a TV, what crimes will they commit?
> 
> Yu takes the Phantom Founders to Yukiko's Castle for a little dungeon speed run, they compare notes.

The rippling of the TV screen around Yu's arm was the least shocking thing to behold. It only got weirder as Yu used the hand not currently eaten by a flatscreen to beckon the Phantom Founders closer, the teens were hesitant, but the adults were patient. 

Everyone stood stock still until Ryuji had decided that he feared no god and stepped forward, he had only then noticed Teddie, Chie and Yosuke forming a wall around them. Yu grabbed Ryuji's wrist and gently guided it to the TV screen, Ryuji placed his outstretched hand on the smooth glass surface as if he were going to push open a door and just held it there. Ren and Ann tensed, bracing for the worst as Ryuji put a little force into the palm of his hand. Too much force, as it were. Suddenly Ryuji's arm entered the TV with little resistance, the rest of him falling suit all too easily.

Yu quickly removed himself from the TV and pulled Ryuji back as well. "Trust me," he said, "You do not want to go in head first."

Chie laughed at that and the tense air that surrounded the group dissipated. Yu and Ryuji backed further from the TV, letting Teddie climb in first to sniff out danger. Once Ted's voice from beyond the screen gave the okay, Chie and Yosuke climbed in, offering guiding hands to the Phantoms. Yu climbed in last, after assuring everyone had made it in and there were no witnesses.

"Is everyone alright?" Yu asked, about to reach for his Fog Glasses, despite the fog no longer filling the surrounding area.

Yosuke and Chie nodded, Teddie gave a cheery affirmation. When no response was heard from the teens the Investigation Team members immediately feared some of the worst - concussion, death, fell into the void instead, that sort of stuff- finding them looking around dazed and shaken was a relief.

"I'm still a cat? You've got to be kidding me!" Morgana cried from the ground, still very much in cat form.

"Can't you change at will?" Ryuji goads, to which Morgana responds with a 'shut up' and transforms into his slightly less cat than before form.

"Okay, so the cat can talk, and… and shapeshifts?" Chie exclaims, "That's sick!"

"He can turn into a bus! In the metaverse at least," Ann adds, then on a different note, "Oh wow! Our clothes didn't change!"

Now it was the big kids' turns to be confused. "Your… clothes… change?" Yosuke asks, emphasizing each word with it's own distinct feeling from incredulous to perplexed.

"Yeah! It had something to do with us taking off our masks and embracing our rebellious spirit!" Ann explains, 

"It's about thirty percent of why we went with the Phantom Thief shtick," Ryuji finishes.

Then it was Teddie's turn to ask a question, "What were the costumes like? Kind of like the LMB costumes?" the latter question directed more at Yu than anyone else

Ren was about to answer before pausing at the mention of LMB, deciding that it was a Later Question, he said, "Our costumes were kind of based on our personas. Except Mona, he just looks like that."

The Investigation team gave Ren a collective inquisitive look, assuming they want more info, he elaborates, "My persona, the one that was born of me and not… acquired, Arsène, is reminiscent of a French Gentleman Thief, so my costume had an aristocratic vibe and a domino masquerade mask."

Chie perked up, "That's right! You guys were telling me about your personas! Ryuji had the pirate Captain Kidd, and Ann had femme fatale Carmen, right?"

Ren nodded once, "Our codenames came from our masks though, mine, Morgana and Makoto's notwithstanding."

Yu hummed thoughtfully, but didn't say anything.

Yosuke rested an arm on Yu's shoulder, leaning his weight onto his partner, "What's on your mind?"

Yu did something between a grimace and holding back a laugh, "Don't worry about it." he said through gritted teeth.

Yosuke huffed, "C'mon Partner, you can't just not tell us! Are we gonna have to fight your shadow and do a year's worth of diet therapy over this?"

Yu pursed his lips, but gave in with a sigh, "I'm not going to spawn a shadow over this, Yosuke."

"Then. Share. With. The. Class." each word punctuated with an accusatory poke to Yu's chest.

Yu sighed again, barely fighting a smile, "Disco Ninja Frog costume." the words were even, even if as the last syllable escaped, the IT's unflappable leader was curling in on himself between desperate wheezes of quiet laughter. 

Chie walked over to where Ren, Ann, and Ryuji were and sat down, "Take a seat guys, we're gonna be a minute." she says, her tone annoyed but expression fond. Ann and Ryuji sat, deciding to take in the surroundings, Ren cracked open his book and Morgana just stood there looking so disappointed. Yosuke began yelling something about how his persona wasn't that stupid looking, and that devolved into something about skeleton pyjamas and slime? All the while Yu deflected light blows and muttered insincere apologies.

After another minute or two, Chie pushed herself off the ground with a dramatic huff, "Alright kids, break it up, we have guests to show around."

Yosuke scratches the back of his neck awkwardly, "Yeah, right, sorry…"

Yu pulls a bastard sword out of seemingly thin air, "Let's go to Yukiko's palace."

Everyone is taken aback at the weapon's procurement. "Holy shit! That looks so real!" Ryuji exclaims, "Man if we had stuff like that in the palaces we'd've been golden!"

"Oh this is real. I had it commissioned from Daidara ages ago." Yu said simply, not even acknowledging the gasps and whispers from the Phantom Founders, "There's a pair of sharpened nata here in this chest for you, Partner. I'm assuming you still wear steel toed boots, Chie?"

Chie gave a thumbs up in affirmation and Yosuke took the nata from the open chest. "Hey, Yu," he began, "why do you have a sword stored here?"

Yu shrugged, "It's sharper than a golf club," Yosuke glared at him sharply, "And I got sick of bringing a duffle bag around town if I planned to come 'round here."

And that was that. there were some spare weapons in the chest but none really fit the Phantom's signatures, so they settled. Ryuji taking a metal bat, Ren a dagger and Ann a pistol. It felt odd for them to be potentially wandering into shadow infested territory without at least their masks… Would they even be able to summon their personas?

"Um… Yu-san?"

Yu stopped his stride and looked back at Ren,

"Uh… when you say we're going to Yukiko's castle, what does that mean?"

"It's the castle that Yukiko made when she was kidnapped," Yu answered, "The shadows there are low in level and numbers, and you're on the Sparrow book, that's Yukiko's castle."

"I wonder if it'll be anything like Kamoshida's," Ann whispered, mostly to herself, Ryuji tensing slightly at the thought regardless.

It didn't take long for the mysterious nondescript ground and yellow sky gave way to a red carpeted courtyard, a large, rose and ivy covered stone castle, like one you'd read about in fairy tales looming in front of them against a violet sky.

There was a moment of silence, from awe, nervousness, solemn memories… Teddie was the first to approach the red and black vortex that covered the ornate doors at the front of the castle, he stood there, looking pensive and giving a few cursory sniffs. "I'm smelling something bear-y strong in here. Deep in the castle," he says, voice shaking a little, "Are we still going in, Sensei? We don't have Yuki-chan or any items."

Yu turned to his companions, "What do you say?"

Everyone gave a cheer, the thrill of the fight returning in waves.

"Why would we need Yukiko-san here specifically? Is it because it's her… Place? Castle?" Ren asks innocently,

"Yukiko had most of our dia spells, and fire resistance. It should be fine, I have a pixie and Yosuke has dia too." Yu says.

"I still wear that leather keychain I got from Yukiko on my belt so I've got fire resistance and bufu spells!" Chie says, cracking her knuckles, just as Ann says,

"Oh fire? Carmen has agi and dia! I can act as Yukiko today."

Yu gives his companions a nod and turns to Teddie, "Let's do this."

Teddie pushes open the castle doors and once inside, everyone is hit with just how pink everything is. As they begin traversing the halls looking for the stairs up, Yu takes the lead, followed by Ren and Morgana, then Ann, then Ryuji, Yosuke and Chie holding up the flank and Teddie trailing behind to act as support.

The first few shadows encountered are nothing noteworthy, a few quick melee hits and they're done. The first few rooms off the main hall hold little to be desired. The few instances a tiny red chest was present were relieving, vanish balls and life stones were always welcome. The real fun began when a large glowing shadow was found circling a large golden chest.

Yu had managed to sneak up on the shadow and swung his sword forcefully, the sound the shadow made as the blade connected with its vapor like body was not pleasant, but going into battle with advantage was.

The shadow took the form of three Positive Kings, which had the Investigation Team members groaning in frustration, remembering all too well how if you didn't kill the bastards quick they just summoned more smaller bastards and it was a time consuming mess.

The first to get a word was Teddie, "This shadow is surprisingly strong, I don't think it's supposed to even be on this floor!"

The first turn to strike was Yosuke's, he called on Susano-o to cast Magaru, knocking all the enemies to the ground. Chie was the one to call about the All Out Attack, Yu gave the signal and the IT members went in, Teddie included. The Positive Kings weren't dead yet, but the IT backed out.

"Ren! Your turn now!" Yu shouted, signalling for the Phantoms to take their place. Morgana had first dibs on the attack in this line up, he had Zorro cast Garula to take one shadow out, then did a baton pass with Ren. The only thing was Ren didn’t have a persona with garu spells handy so he settled for Suzaku’s Mafrei which not only fried what was left of one of the Positive Kings, but it also lead to,

“What the FUCK was that!” Yosuke shouted.

“Ma...frei..?”

“What’s that!?”

“Nuclear damage?” Ren responds nervously, hands instinctively shooting up to his hair, which he tries to play off as brushing it out of his eyes. He couldn’t wait for the answer as the sound of the summoning of Secret Bambinos filled the small room. Ann took initiative and Carmen burned everything up with Maragi. The two remaining Kings dropped dead and Ryuji took out one Secret Bambino with his bat. Yu jumped in and took the last shadow out with his sword.

“Question,” Yu says after picking up the remnants of the shadows and handing half to Ren, “Nuclear damage?”

Ren fiddles and tugs at the neckline of his shirt, “I… don’t know?” he offers, “It’s just another element, like fire, or light, or gun.”

“Gun isn’t an element.” Chie interjects,

“It is in the metaverse, at least,” Ren replies shyly.

Yu pats Ren’s shoulder comfortingly, “No worries then, you did good, let’s move on.”

As much as he wanted to keep his cool, Ren found himself tensing at the touch. His nose burned and he felt a twinge in his jaw, neither were good signs. He felt like he was going to cry, he received the slightest of affirmation from his predecessor and idol and he was going to cry about it. Damned by the faintest praise indeed.

He stood stiff in place, not breathing or blinking to try and regulate himself. Yu pulled his hand back and offered a reassuring smile before turning around and poking at the chest’s lock with a nondescript key. With a gulp of air, Ren fished into his pocket and found his lockpick from earlier and moved to crouch in front of the chest. He presented the lockpick and Yu, once again, backed away. With a few deft movements and quick clicks the chest opened to reveal a ring, a revival bead and a soul drop. Ren took the ring and soul drop, letting Yu claim the revival bead. What yen was found from the shadow was also split between the wildcards to divvy for their respective parties.

“A lockpick is really smart!” Chie says, like she’s stumbled upon a grand revelation, “We should have gotten some back when we explored all the time!”

Yosuke huffed a laugh, “It would have made more sense than just somehow having the keys to these chests. But hey, what works, works.”

After a few more floors and quick shadow battles, it’s apparent at least that Yukiko’s castle is of very different nature to Kamoshida’s. In spite of the whole royalty in a castle lined with red carpets and way too many levels, this castle was luckily less filled with cells, narcissistic paraphernalia and child abuse. However, the existence of a specialized dungeon made by a person’s shadow sent alarm bells through the Phantom Thieves’ minds.

It was Ann who thought to ask, “So… what causes these places to form? Because in the Metaverse, Palaces are caused by distorted desires, which is why the Phantom Thieves would only really be able to target really nasty people.”

“They’re built around whoever gets thrown in here,” Teddie explained seriously, “The shadows make it and trap the host, and when the fog lifted they’d attack.”

“But, like Lady Ann said, shadows are made of distorted desires! Aren’t they…?” Morgana interjects,

Yu perked, though it was so muted only Yosuke, who was standing right next to him noticed, “Shadows are the parts of us that we keep secret or try to suppress. So while the Metaverse must have been for people with large and terrible secrets, here, for us, most of the Shadows manifested as exaggerated insecurities.”

“Why did I let you go into psychology, Partner?” Yosuke whined,

“That… actually lines up!” Ren says after some thought, “Remember Futaba’s Palace and Shadow? She felt guilty about her mom’s death, but ultimately had no real corruption in her besides that. So for kids, our shadows are based on self inflicted or perceived failings, while adults have more of their entitlement put onto others.”

“That makes sense, ‘cause your average teenager’s just gonna have shit like emotions and school stress and… internalized homophobia or whatever.” Ryuji adds, nobody acknowledging the pained wince from Yosuke at the last in the list.

“Right, this is great, and all,” Chie starts, looking at her watch, “But we gotta hurry up, cause I got to be home in time to feed Muku.”

Yosuke groans, “Isn’t Yukiko there for that? Or is she working evenings?”

“She’s working evenings. Shifts switched up about last week ‘cause the other manager’s babysitter quit for nights.”

The Phantoms nodded, readying themselves for speeding through the last few floors. Ren used his third eye sense to find the doors that lead onward with the help of Yu’s experience in navigating the dungeon. It wasn’t hard to reach the eighth floor, and the enemy at the top was barely stronger than the last one they had fought. That isn’t to say there was no challenge, what with everyone’s health and spirit being way below where they started. Regardless, all was done and everyone got a nice chunk of yen out of it. 

Returning to the entrance was uneventful, and they all managed to get back into Junes more or less unscathed. The sun was already beginning to set and the dull pangs of hunger started to make themselves known to the group. Chie was quick to head off, calling back that it was a pleasure but she had to keep up her schedule at home. Yu was next, disappearing with little more than a wave. Yosuke had noted that Yu worked multiple part time jobs between classes with at least one night shift, sating the subtle curiosity in the Phantoms. The Phantoms themselves decided to have a sunset picnic up on the hill at Yasogami before going back to the inn for the night.

As sluggish and weary as the Phantom Founders felt after the hours in the TV world, there was just enough excitement running through their veins to leave a small spring in each step as they ascended to Yasogami.

The school had no stragglers hanging around from the sports game earlier, nor anyone else that was looking for a quiet place to loiter. Ren picked a spot in the grass and started distributing some of the snacks he stored in his bag. Ryuji and Ann took them and sat as well, the three of them forming a small circle near the soccer field. Then, Ren divided up the leftover tofu and one of the bento boxes he'd picked up on their way out of Junes between the four of them. Morgana gave a half hearted complaint about how he wanted fish, or curry, or fish curry, but didn't complain once a selection of food was actually placed in front of him.

"Hey, uh, weren't we planning to go to that Chinese place eventually?" Ryuji asks,

"Yeah! Aiya's! It looks super nice, we should go tomorrow!" Ann responds,

Ren shakes his head, "It's supposed to rain Friday and Saturday. We should go then."

"Why?" Ann and Ryuji ask simultaneously,

"Rainy Day Challenge. Big bowl of meat and rice for thirty thousand or free if you can eat it all in one sitting."

With a group "oh," the matter is dropped. The three shift themselves to look over the horizon, letting the warm summer breeze brush over them. There were some trees overshadowing the buildings below, but they only helped frame the beautiful sunset over the buildings. Low hanging sun painting both the sky above and the town below red and gold, around the highest edges of sky where the gold faded to violet, there were tiny clusters of stars shimmering like glitter.

The Phantom Thieves stayed well after sunset had ended and the area had been blanketed in darkness. Ren looked once again to the vast expanse above, trying to count the tiny white and blue lights dotting the sky. Ann and Ryuji followed their leader's gaze and gasped, they knew objectively that Inaba had less light pollution than Tokyo, but that didn't change just how awe inspiring the full dark sky was. For a minute, they forgot they were on vacation, and the memories of the last year faded from their minds. There was nothing but this moment right now, the three of them laying in the grass under the stars. Ren took Ryuji's hand, Ann twisted a heart shaped locket around her fingers, and in this moment, there was nothing else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look this was so fun to write but I'm sorry the mood shifted a bit at the end. I'm a sucker for sunsets and stars. I'll probably come back and change it.
> 
> ALSO GOT THAT AVERAGE WC TO 2K A CHAPTER AGAIN


	8. Should Have Stopped at That Bass Pro

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the Dadliest of bonding: Fishing!

Despite the fact that this trip was for quote unquote team bonding, spending every waking and non-waking moment with somebody can breed tension and contempt. Luckily, the trio of thieves had taken this into account and budgeted at least one day of the week to spread their own wings and explore. That day ended up being today. Ren had dragged himself out of bed well before sunrise this fine Thursday morning, bringing nothing but his books, some cash and snacks. He was going to visit the Samegawa river again, possibly rent a fishing pole.

It was barely three in the morning when Ren parked himself on a bench by the river bank, finding it too cold - even with the hoodie he stole from Ryuji - to risk mixing his shitty circulation and the dewed grass. It was much too early to find a fishing rod, so instead Ren threw himself into the last stretch of Cage of the Sparrow, hoping to be able to start Steam and Roses before the local bait and tackle opens. That is… assuming there is a bait and tackle somewhere.

The thwip of a cast line drew Ren’s attention. He didn’t know why he seemed so surprised to see Yu standing on the end of the little dock. The teen shot to his feet and rushed over to Yu. He stopped in his tracks after a few steps when he heard a feline chirp, then a few meows. Morgana was not with him, either still at the inn or following Ann around like a lost puppy - as ironic as it is. The meow seemed to have come from a little orange and white striped cat that had come down from the road. The cat circled Yu’s legs before sitting and meowing up at him again. 

“You’re mouthy today,” Yu says fondly, crouching down to scratch under the cat’s chin. Then there was a splash in the water and Yu jumped back to attention and began aggressively reeling in his line. After a quick battle, Yu pulled a trout out of the water. The little orange cat chirped, blinking up at Yu, who unhooked the trout from his line and offered it to the cat with hushed coos and pets.

“Er, morning, Yu-san!” Ren says quickly, feeling a little guilty for not saying something sooner.

Yu waved then started re-worming his hook, “Good morning. Do you fish?”

Ren shrugged, “I’ve been once with Ryuji last summer. I was hoping to today, though.”

“There isn’t a bait shop here if that’s what you’re wondering.”

“Ah, dicks…” Ren hissed under his breath.

Apparently sensing that a problem could be resolved, Yu offered his rod to Ren. The teen took it apprehensively, and with a bit of non-verbal urging, cast the line into the water. There was unsurprisingly no immediate bite, so Ren kicked his shoes and socks off and sat on the edge of the little dock. Yu followed suit and sat beside him, the orange cat laying in his lap. The two enjoyed the breeze quietly, Ren occasionally swaying the fishing rod to goad a fish to bite. Eventually, though, the silence became pressing and awkward,

“So… How was high school for you?” Ren asks hesitantly, turning his head towards Yu.

Yu hummed thoughtfully, “You’ve already got the mostly unabridged experience of my second year.”

Ren shook his head, “No, I mean, in Tokyo. Like, third year?”

“Worried about the rest of your school year?” Yu asks with an amused tone, meeting Ren’s eyes.

Ren grimaced and nodded. There was a tug on his line that demanded his attention. Yu picked up the cat and carried it back to the grass. Ren shot to his feet and reeled frantically. The reel was spinning with abandon and the rod was bending slightly, Ren yanked once but the fish kept fighting. Yu rushed behind him, placing one hand on his shoulder to steady him and another on the fishing rod’s handle to help pull. A few tense seconds pass, and Ren is able to surface an amber seema. The teen fists a hand in his hair with a satisfied laugh while Yu congratulated him with a pat on the back. Yu then unhooked and released the fish and asked Ren if he wanted to try again. Ren nodded vigorously, barely containing the shake of his hands as he offered the pole back to Yu to bait.

Yu gave Ren the pole and stepped to the safety of the grass while Ren cast out. There was the thwip of the rod, the whirr of the reel and the splash of the hook and bobber hit the water. Then Yu returned to the end of the dock and the duo sat once again together. The sky was beginning to go purple as the sun started crawling over the horizon.  
“So,” Ren starts again, “How was third year, Yu-san?”

Yu smiled distantly, “Good question.”

Ren just offered the “okay” sign as a wordless response.

“Honestly, I wasn’t present for it.” Yu elaborates, “Wasn’t a fan of the uniform change, either.”

“What school did you go to, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Komae. Nothing so prestigious as somewhere like Shujin, Tokyo High or even Gekkoukan, but they did have blazers and ties instead of standard gakuran jackets.”

Ren faced Yu, head cocked curiously, “Anything exciting happen?”

Yu started to shake his head no, but stopped himself. He balled a fist at his mouth pensively, “All the adventures happened over breaks. Golden week had the Labrys situation - walking around town after that was very uncomfortable for a good while - and then there was the LMB fest over summer break. But if you want to know about my actual experience with school… well, nobody died my first day and I just studied between shifts.”

Ren turned back to the river with a quiet “Ah,” he watched as the bobber floated above the ripples in the river. “I wasn’t expecting to be able to do my third year, honestly. I was expelled, and the only school that accepted me with my record was Shujin… Moving back to Fuefuki was not a fun thing to think about.”

Yu didn’t say anything to that, but there was something in the silence that let Ren feel at ease. The sudden heaviness of the conversation, however did not. So Ren tried to lighten the mood the only way he knew how, “So, your partner..?”

A smile so visible it startled Ren creeped across Yu’s face, “Yeah?”

“Tell me about that. How’d you meet?”

Now, Yu wasn’t a very talkative man, he wasn’t as a kid and he wasn’t inclined to start today. But, the youthful desire to gush about the love of one’s life had yet to fade. Yu sighed dreamily, “Yosuke is… something else. I wouldn’t call myself a romantic but I do have to admit it was practically love at first sight for me.” Ren raises his brows inquisitively, so Yu continued with a chuckle, “After Nanako and I parted ways on the way to school, I watched him crash his bike into a streetlight and I knew right then that that was the man I wanted to marry. And let me tell you, I was so close to announcing that to my class after King Moron accused me of wanting to… er…” Yu suddenly became uncharacteristically nervous in his speech, “sleep around with all the girls.”

Ren snorted, peals of laughter erupting from his mouth like the foam from a sixth grade science fair volcano, “So you watched a guy crash a bike, fell head over heels and then got called a slut all on your first day? And I thought my first day was bad.”

“Not to mention somebody died, and I only found out because Chie decided she and Yukiko were going to be my friends.” Yu added, “What about you? A partner? Or a wild first day story?”

Ren swayed the rod a bit, “Well, you’ve met Ryuji, he’s my boyfriend. And as for the first day story… I got caught in the rain, ran into Ryuji whose helpful exposition on Kamoshida activated the Metanav for the first time. We ended up half a day late for school because we got caught up in Kamoshida’s Palace.”

“Wow,”

“Yeah, I won’t lie, I lost all one of my brain cells when I met Ryuji. He asked if I was a Shujin student ‘cause I was wearing the uniform and on my way there, and my dumbass asked ‘What’s Shujin?’” 

Yu’s face tightened in a way that suggested a wince but was still rather jovial, relatively speaking. Yu’s face often forgot to show the emotions he felt without conscious effort. The two kept up the light chatter, Yu telling the story of his first - and last - high school party, Ren reciprocating with that time he and Yusuke got kicked out of a catholic church. By the time the sun was halfway above the horizon, Ren had caught one other fish, and a familiar face was spotted jogging along the road above the riverbed.

“Ryuji!” Ren calls, “Down here!”

Ryuji slows his pace until he’s jogging on the spot, “Oh hey, Ren! Yu-san! What’s up!” he shouts down towards the pair on the dock.

Ren holds up his borrowed fishing rod as an answer and Ryuji practically threw himself down the hill to join the others.

“Hey guys, how’s the fishing going?” the blond asks excitedly.

Yu shrugged, “Not great in terms of quantity, but the company is great.”

Ren fought back an embarrassed sputter, but he did twirl and tug at his hair. Then, as if blessed by good luck, a dramatic yank on the fishing pole saved them all from an awkward lull in conversation. Sure, it almost launched Ren into the Samegawa River, but it also led to energetic cheers from Ryuji as Yu helped steady and guide Ren into surfacing the fish. And surface, the bastard did. It was huge, and it leaped out of the water, arcing gracefully before the fishing line snapped and the fish disappeared back into the water.

Ren hadn’t even processed what he saw before he started apologizing, “Oh my god! I didn’t mean-”

Yu interrupted his apology with a dismissive wave, “It’s alright,” he said gently, “It happens. Wasn’t the first line to break and won’t be the last.”

Ryuji then stepped onto the deck and aggressively ruffled Ren’s hair then threw his arm around his shoulders, “You did your best, man! But hey, since I found you, why don’t we hang out?” Then, Ryuji lowered his voice to a teasing whisper and pressed his nose to Ren’s temple, “We don’t have Morgana, so we could… Oh I dunno, go out, just us?” Ren coloured at the words, though he didn’t really know why. He nodded without thinking and Ryuji pulled off of him to strike a victory pose.

Ren suddenly had an idea. He turned fully to Yu, who was just standing casually, weight on his left foot and arms crossed. Ren noticed Yu’s expression, he was smiling gently, but there was an almost, dare he say, _paternal_ aspect to it. However, it didn’t dissuade him in the slightest, “Yu-san, why don’t you come with, and invite Yosuke-san.”

Ryuji brightened, “Ooh! Like a double date, that sounds sweet! Why don’t we go to that little food shack… cart thing with the grilled steak! We can go for lunch!”

“Yeah, sounds good,” Ren and Yu answer simultaneously, with Yu adding, “I have to bring this stuff back home and make sure Yosuke’s available.”

The teens nodded, Ryuji bidding his boyfriend goodbye with a hug and heading to finish his jog while Ren helped Yu gather his gear as thanks.

As the last bit of tackle is packed away, Yu says, “I can’t wait to hear more of your story. And we still have to talk about the Velvet Room.”

“Right,” Ren answers, “I really gotta tell you about the drain cleaner, too.”

“The ...what?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this happened! I really really wanted to do some more Silly Non Plot things
> 
> And of course, any and all good jokes are either stolen from other persona based content or from my roommate commentating while I play the game


	9. Drinking Drain Cleaner and Other Bad Anecdotes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yu, Yosuke, Ren and Ryuji have some steak and croquettes and tell their favourite stories about themselves. It goes a little better for some rather than others.

"So, let me tell you about the 'Drain Cleaner Incident'!" Ren opens as he drops into a chair next to Ryuji. It's shortly after lunch hour, time for the double date of the Wild Cards and their Right Hand Men. They were sitting outside Souzai Daigaku with some sodas and fresh croquettes as appetizers. Ren grinned cheesily at the horrified expression of Yosuke and Yu's slightly less horrified Concerned Caregiver Stare. The older pair nonverbally beg for elaboration. Ryuji just sips loudly at his soda as a means of masking his confusion. He knew that Ren got into shit with the shadier part time jobs he's had, but this was the first time -that Ryuji could recall, at least- mentioning drain cleaner. In all honesty it sounded like a non sequitur or some noodle incident reference used to announce his presence.

"So, in order to get better meds and healing items for the Phantom Thieves," Ren explains calmly, "I underwent clinical trials with the local urban legend doctor. She, er, she was certainly a type, I'll say. When she hired me, I was thinking I'd do some minor janitorial work."

There was a pause that Yosuke took advantage of, "Just like Yu. He made friends with a nurse by working late nights cleaning the hospital." Ren nodded enthusiastically at that, while Yu paled a bit.

Ren continues, "Right! So Doctor Takemi, she... she uh, locks the exam room and hands me a medicinal shot glass, essentially. She hands me the glass and tells me to drink it. So I do, fully expecting to get sick." he pauses, breaths breaking as he tries not to laugh at his own story, "So I down it. Like straight up, my first shot was some weird medicine. Takemi had the gall to be surprised that I drank it when she had just told me to drink the shit."

The story seemed to finish there. Which, while it was a little frightening that an actual child was being commissioned as a guinea pig, the name "Drain Cleaner Incident" didn't quite seem connected. Ryuji was the one to ask about it, he knew Takemi made weird drugs but also it hadn't almost killed them in Palaces.

"I... well, she asked what I thought. I said it tasted like shit, then I noticed it tasted like what generic brand kitchen cleaner smelled like. So I managed a 'I think this is drain cleaner' and then went comatose for about a day. It was... fun." Ren finishes, slowly coming to the realization that almost dying by drinking something that resembled a chemical cleaning product was not in fact a light hearted anecdote one shares over grilled steak that was now being delivered.

However, the sheer absurdity of the story definitely broke any potential awkward ice one would find at an intergenerational friendship dinner. So it led to a new question, or prompt rather, asked by Yu, "So, tell me the strangest moment of your year in Tokyo."

Ryuji took a quick bite of his steak before answering, "There was a lot of weird, dude. So should we leave out the Phantom shit?"

Yu nodded, "Unless it was something completely..." he trailed off, mumbling a few words experimentally in English as if he lost his phrasing,

"Batshit?" Yosuke supplied helpfully. Yu confirmed that was what he meant.

Ryuji took another bite of food, "Okay! So, for the top of the list of Weird Shit, I would have to say... Kawakami, Ren’s homeroom teacher, working for that 'Housekeeping' service."

Ren offered his glass in mock toast, "Yeah... that wasn't a fun. What was was having her watch my laundry so I could go eat giant hamburgers."

Yu and Yosuke just blinked, trying to cling to what little remnants of sanity they had left after hearing that. Everybody took a minute to process shared information with some steak and soda. Then, Yu dropped his head onto Yosuke's shoulder and sighed, "Well, at least somebody has a worse moment than 'My boyfriend's little brother asked me to buy him porn mags as a souvenir."

Ryuji and Ren did a spit take, "What! For real!?"

Yu inhaled like he was in pain, "Oh yeah, I’m traumatized. It was the Golden Week after I had gone back to Tokyo. I had just gotten to the train station to return to Inaba when Teddie called." He smirked, his voice now dripping with copious amounts of bitchiness, "He said that my poor sad Partner," Yosuke shoved Yu off of him, red faced and huffy, "had lost all his favourite nurses."

"And then you were too chicken to buy them." Yosuke teased, "I didn't even ask for them. Ted did that stupid move on his own. But I did learn a fun thing about Yu that day."

Ren leaned forward in his seat, he pushed his glasses up his nose conspiratorially, "Do tell."

Now it was Yosuke's turn to make a smug face while his boyfriend flushed and tried to hide in on himself, "Three words." He counted off his fingers, "Sister. Complex. Kingpin.”

“It’s not a fucking complex and you know it.” Yu’s objection sounds tired, like he’s done this song and dance hundreds of times, “Are you ever going to let that go?”

Yosuke could only laugh and ruffle his Partner’s hair affectionately while Ryuji and Ren went through twenty-seven stages of grief in ten seconds. They all take a minute to regain what composure and dignity they can muster, Yosuke presses an apology kiss to Yu’s temple and is rewarded with a bite of croquette. Ren then moves his glasses to the top of his head and rubs the remnants of tears out of his eyes with the heel of his hand. “So,” he says, desperate to change the subject, “I’ve been meaning to ask about the LMB Fest.”

“LMB Fest?” Ryuji asks, mind still reeling from the worst combination of words he’s heard since he last hung out with Futaba and Yusuke at the same time.

“Remember? Teddie mentioned it in the TV World. And then Yu-san mentioned it when we were fishing.” Ren explains.

Yu picked up a napkin and absently began folding it, “Music festival, summer of…” he turns to Yosuke, “How old are we?”

Yosuke made a show of counting on his fingers, “Twenty three.”

“It was in 2012, Rise was doing her grand re-debut. She had us help her out.”

Ren gasped, “Rise? As in Rise Kujikawa? Risette!?”

Ryuji jumped to his feet, “Wait! You guys know Risette? So, spill! Is she just as hot in person?”

Yu shrugged, “Ask Yosuke,” he said flatly.

Yosuke winced and shook his head. Ryuji eyed him expectantly. He scratched nervously at the back of his neck, “Yeah, I guess,” he punctuates his response with a pointed swig of his soda, “Why couldn’t you say as much, Yu? You’ve got eyes that work.”

Ren and Ryuji watched Yu blow into the little crane he had folded out of the napkin. He placed it delicately on the table, “Fuck off,” he says quietly with the slightest hint of indignation, “I’m gay.”

The mood considerably lightened, helped with Ren's ever helpful "Big same."

"There's another fun story from our youth," Yosuke says theatrically between eating the last of the croquettes, "Rise-chan had the most painfully obvious thing for Yu. And, not gonna lie, realizing I was jealous in both directions fucked me up for a week!"

"So it wasn't at first sight for you too, Yosuke-san?" Ren inquires cheekily.

"The hell are you talkin' about?" was Yosuke's confused response.

Ren went to casually adjust his glasses, forgetting he had put them on top of his head and poking himself in the eye. After a quick but not smooth recovery he says, "Yu-san told me he wanted to marry you after you crashed into a telephone pole. Kinda sad it wasn't reciprocated."

Ryuji could do little more than watch as his boyfriend tried his damnedest to cause havoc. Nice to know the Joker persona never faded out.

While Ryuji was having his moment, Yosuke jumped to defend himself from Ren's shit eating grin while Yu continued to fold napkins into birds like he couldn't see a thing past an inch away. "It's not entirely my fault," Yosuke whines childishly, "I didn't even really meet him until a few days later! And I didn't know I was allowed to like guys!"

Ren gave a "fair enough" gesture, "I guess that's fair. I had to sit in on a conversation between Ryuji and his mom as he figured out what was going on with him in that department."

"Hey!" Ryuji elbowed Ren, just hard enough for him to lose his balance in his seat.

"He said, and I quote, 'I can't be straight, I like dudes. Can't be gay, cause girls.’" Ren says, trying not to giggle like a madman, "then, 'I wanna fuck so it ain't ace.' He had gotten to the point of asking me if maybe he was trans when his mom, lovely genius Sakamoto-san said 'Consider: bi or pan.'"

Ren was unable to keep a straight face any longer. Ryuji sunk back in his chair with what he would deny is a pout, "It was a lapse in judgement, man! I'm not that stupid…" 

"Nah, Ryuji, don't worry about it," Yosuke says to the blond, "We all have our idiot moments. Like that time Yu and I got arrested in the Junes food court!"

"That was one hundred percent your fault, though." Yu interjects plainly, placing the last possible crane delicately on the table.

"You got arrested?" Ren's question is tentative, a stark contrast to his attitude three seconds ago.

Yu nodded once, "Yosuke brought swords to the food court. Uncle Dojima managed to keep it off our records."

Ren leaned forward and rested his chin in his palm, "I do kind of wish I got off that easy. But…hey wait, y'know, now that I think about it, Shido kinda looks like Pitbull."

Yu turns his focus to Ren, “Shido, as in Masayoshi Shido, the politician?”

"Li- like the hip hop artist?" Yosuke asks, perplexed, "Mr Worldwide?"

Ren's face lights up like a flare, "Yeah! Finding out that guy sued me sent me on a trip for a solid two minutes minimum. I probably would have noticed sooner if looking at him didn’t give me a headache.”

Ryuji grimaced and shook his head, “Alright, thanks. Now that you’ve pointed it out… Augh, I hate it.”

“Love you too,” Ren responds with mirth, “On another note completely, why are you studying psych, Yu-san? For fun?”

Yu makes a slightly pensive expression, “Plan on being a guidance counselor. Wasn’t my first plan, but the whole Persona Social Link setup piqued my interest.”

“What was your original plan, then?” Ryuji asks, “Was it the book thing?”

Yu smiles slightly, “Nope. I wanted to be a father. Still do. Being a stay at home dad is what I really want to do. But until I can do that, I figured helping kids figure out who they are and what they want to do was the best option.” He takes the last sip of his pop before adding, “What about you two?”

“I’m going to inherit Leblanc.” Ren answers immediately, “It’s the cafe I lived at during probation, Sojiro Sakura had me work part time to keep me busy.”

“Did he pay you, at least?” Yosuke jokes, Ren gave a gesture that implied a strong “maybe” in response.

Ryuji pulled his ankle up on his knee and leaned back in his chair, “He’s earned the deed, a’least. Sounded like Boss was more a dad to Ren than Amamiya-san was back in Fuefuki.” Yu and Yosuke nod knowingly, then Ryuji continues, “As for me… I dunno, might go to college on a track scholarship since I joined the team again. Don’t know what I’d study, though. ”

Yosuke inhales a breath through his teeth, “I get that. My parents thought I should go into business but I didn’t need both the STEM and Humanities kids on my ass. I’m in the mechanical engineering program now, I may suck at math but I can memorize formulas and work a wrench.” he shrugs proudly, “Kept my bike moving for a year after it shoulda died.”

Yu fixed Yosuke with a dead expression, “No, not really.”

The group continued on for another hour or so, what remnants of their steak lunch either eaten or gone cold and packed into styrofoam containers. Right before they parted ways, Yu pulled out his phone, “Talking to you is fun, why don’t we exchange numbers?”

Ren practically imploded, he tripped over himself to pull out his phone and open his contacts. Ryuji did as well but at a much less harried pace. “Oh! We typically use our chat app rather than email or calls, do you want those IDs as well?” Ren asks.

“What app is it?” Yu asks, eyeing his old flip phone.

“Discord.”

Yu looks at Yosuke, then at Ren and Ryuji, “I have it on my laptop at least, so that works too.”

They exchanged necessary contact information with a plan to create a Persona User Discord Server. They split off into pairs after that, Yu and Yosuke heading off in the direction of the residential district, Ren and Ryuji heading towards the inn. Ren couldn’t bring himself to put his phone back in his pocket, which created a problem when Ryuji tried to take his hand. Ryuji solved his problem by placing his arm around Ren’s shoulders, and Ren swapped the hand his phone was in to wrap his arm around Ryuji’s waist. They pair walked in a comfortable silence back to the Amagi Inn, only the distant rumble of thunder making itself known every few minutes acting as background noise. 

“So,” Ryuji says after a while, leaning into Ren’s shoulder, “Chinese tomorrow?”

Ren leans down to rest his head against Ryuji’s, “Yeah…That’s the plan.”

And once more in the distance, the thunder rolled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly this chapter was so effin' hard to write. It probably would've been faster and easier to just write an itemized list of headcanons related to everybody's post canon storyline. But then I wouldn't have this fic
> 
> Also,,, my favourite piece of information to learn was that Ryuji is 5'7 and Ren is 5'9 because 1) Ideal Height Difference for hugs and 2) Ren's shorter than Yu (5'11) so of course he's gonna have the Big Brother/Dad Instinct kick in immediately


	10. Okina Counts as Inaba, Right?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Having exhausted all there is to do in Inaba, the Phantom Founders avoid hanging out at Junes all day by hanging out in Okina.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh so I finished P5, and the nav just disappears along with Mementos and the Metaverse (in vanilla at least) so... yeah it's officially canon divergence now. Also I don't care what the last cutscene implies, Ren would totally keep wearing his glasses out of habit and you can't convince me otherwise

The plan was to meet up at four at the Dojima residence. Any and all time before that was unaccounted for. The Phantom Founders decided to spend it wandering around town, though they did decide that tonight after dinner at Yu's they'd give the hot springs a try. Ann led the boys to Tatsuhime Shrine in the late morning, after stopping for ice cream, of course. They all threw some spare change into the offering box, more out of obligation than anything. The fox that was there their first day in didn’t emerge from hiding, sadly.

"So… we've kind of exhausted the tourism of the town for a while," Ann says, "Why don't we catch the train to Okina?"

With enthusiastic whoops of agreement, the trio and Morgana made their way to the train station. The train ride was much shorter to Okina, about ten minutes instead of several hours like it was to and from Tokyo. Upon exiting the train, the Phantom Founders were astounded at how much was easily accessible compared to the empty Inaba and the Maze of Tokyo's subway stations.

"Alright! Let's find an arcade!" Ryuji proclaimed, marching off with the determination of a knight. Ann rolled her eyes to Ren, who shrugged in response and they jogged after Ryuji. Morgana meandered lazily behind. 

The arcade was small, definitely smaller than the one in Shibuya and even more so than the one in Akihabara. Same franchise though, Gigolo Arcade. There were quite a few people hanging out, some teens and elementary aged kids playing games. Ann dragged Ryuji over to the DDR -well, dragging was an exaggeration… She mainly said "Hey, DDR!" and Ryuji had responded by challenging her to a dance off, but she did grab him by the wrist to bring him to the machine. Ren was content to spend approximately two thousand yen on snagging a new stuffed toy from the crane game. He got it in two tries, too. A Pyro Jack doll.

"Nice one, Joker! You can put it up in your room with the others." Morgana says, scratching behind his ear. Ren gives a victorious fist pump and tucks his prize into his bag. He then picked up Morgana and went to check on Ryuji and Ann. Ann was putting a lot of effort into adding flair and charm into her gameplay, turning it into an almost genuine dance. Ryuji, on the other hand, was just making sure his steps hit the right arrows in time with the screen.

Ann had won. Ryuji jokingly called cheating, and Ann rebuked with taunts related to her inherent charm. There were a few more rounds of DDR, Ann having managed to convince Ren to battle Ryuji for the bronze and silver medal. Once the impromptu tournament came to its close, Ren decided it was his turn to pick a place to hang out, and he chose the theater. 30 Frame was luckily not busy, despite the holiday.

"So…" Ryuji starts,

"What are we gonna watch?" Ann finishes,

Ren pushes his glasses up his nose and stares pensively at the list of films playing in the next ten minutes. After a solid minute of pretending to think, Ren declares, "Lego Batman."

"Really!?" Morgana whines, "I thought you were too old for kids' movies."

Ryuji and Ann on the other hand were ecstatic. What's a better movie to see in theaters than one you know will split your sides in the best way. The trio skipped out on snacks, deciding that a large soda each was already dipping into their holiday savings too much. They took their seats in the almost empty theater, Ren had Ryuji on his right, Ann on his left and Morgana on his lap.

The movie was great! Hilarious in the way that all the previous in the franchise have been, with just enough profound aesops sprinkled in that, though he'd rather die than admit it, even Morgana got a little misty eyed. All in, it was a wonderful way to pass two hours. The last stop was coffee, Ann was torn between the safe and familiar Starbucks, or the unfamiliar local Chagall Café. Eventually, however, the fact that Starbucks had fancy cold drinks and didn't give off an 'Existential Crisis Inside!' vibe won out.

Ten minutes later, the Phantom Founders were seated around a circle table next to the front window, three overpriced cold drinks and a cup of whipped cream in a tray to split between them. "Alright, puppuccino for Morgana," Ann says, offering the whipped cream cup to the cat, "Iced mocha for Ren, and vanilla frapp for Ryuji!" Ann finishes distributing drinks and takes her own vanilla cold brew. Though it wasn't aggressively hot, cold caffeinated drinks were still just the right amount of refreshing in the early afternoon.

The Phantoms were animatedly discussing what they would tell their friends this evening, some things just didn't work over text. Ren kept a close eye on the time so they wouldn't miss the train back to Inaba. Morgana had managed to get whipped cream up to his eyes and when he attempted to clean it it just spread up to his ears. Ryuji laughed while Ann took pictures, if it was possible for a cat to look embarrassed, he sure did right now. Ann did clean him up with a napkin, which earned a stuttered thanks.

"Hey uhhhhh, look at the window." Ryuji says suddenly, pointing towards the Starbucks building.

The others' faces twist and furrow in confusion, not knowing what they're supposed to be looking at.

Morgana scoffs, "Ryuji, that's your reflection. Surely you'd know your own face by now."

"Eff off, cat! I will fight you."

"Can you two get along for three seconds?" Ren asks, exasperated.

"No. Now look!" Ryuji says, pointing more aggressively at the window, "It says effin' 'Atzrbucks' what's up with that?"

Ren, Ann and Morgana all wore expressions that conveyed the delicate scale between confusion and mental damage. "It sure says that, huh?" Ann manages, voice wavering like she's trying to act confident.

"Why don't we ask the locals?" Morgana says,

Ann pulls out her phone, "Great idea, Mona!" she types out her message, but before she hits send she's spiralling into a fit of giggles.

"What's so funny?" Ren asks,

Ann takes a deep breath, "So you remember 'Phantom Thciefs', right? Well…"

Ryuji snorts, "Oh yeah, right after 'Nooses are bad… SUPER!' and the damn spoliered spoiler!"

Ann puts her phone in the center of the table, open to the discord server. The most recent message being from Rise,

_ I-Eat T-Ass _

"It's the T-Ass that gets me," Ann says between giggles, "You'd say it like the m'lady fedora thing."

Ren checks the time on Ann's phone, "That's all well and good, but we got a train to catch."

Trash was quickly discarded in the appropriate bins and with the cat back in the bag, the Phantoms raced to the train station. Thanks to Ren's impeccable ability for knowing exactly when to leave to arrive on time, they managed to grab their tickets and climb on the train back to Inaba with a few minutes to spare. During the ride, the gray sky grew dark and by the time they had stepped out of Yasoinaba station, it had started raining. Despite knowing the forecast, nobody brought an umbrella.

With a few shortcuts and some intermittent sprints, Ren, Ann, Ryuji and Morgana manage to make it to the Dojima house with more than a few minutes this time. Nanako greeted the out of breath teenagers happily, ushering them into the living room.

"Big bro!" she calls up the stairs, "Your friends are here!"

Yu came downstairs immediately afterwards, greeting the Phantoms with a wave. He seemed a little worse for wear, white polo untucked and wrinkled, and red imprints on the side of his face.

"You okay, dude?" Ryuji asks dully, he's not really expecting a response.

Yu blinked blearily, once, twice, "I… may have passed out on the floor like twenty minutes ago." he pauses for a deep breath and shakes his head, "The others'll be here in a minute or two."

Yu then disappeared -as well as one could disappear behind a half wall- into the kitchen to make a cup of coffee. The second he joined his guests in the living room, Morgana claimed the spot next to him. Yu's free hand was petting the cat in an instant.

"Oh, I see how it is," Ren teases

"It's just to give me some space from you and Ryuji!" Morgana sputters. Ren just smirks and moves to settle himself between Ryuji's legs, leaning back against his boyfriend's chest.

"You know that's less cute when you're taller than me and your hair's in my mouth, man." Ryuji complains, Ren just siddles a little lower so his head falls back onto Ryuji's shoulder.

The clock strikes four, and the door to the Dojima residence bursts open; a flow of young adults in bright colours pour in. Dojima and Nanako filing out shortly after, going out to a restaurant dinner so Yu can borrow the house.

"I'm calling Aiya's right now! What do you guys want?" Chie shouts as she makes it to the living room.

"Beef bowls!" was the overwhelming cry of the room.

Chie grinned, "Sick!" she put her phone to her ear, "Hi, I'd like to order delivery. Five mega beef bowls, two orders of chow mein with vegetables, a regular beef bowl and an order of sweet and sour soup. Yeah. Perfect, thanks!"

Yosuke then placed it on the coffee table and booted up discord, "Alright, let's get this party started!" 

Naoto's call was accepted and everyone crowded best they could around the computer. The Phantom Thieves gasped at the sight of the original Detective Prince, and grinned upon seeing the faces of their friends.

"Hello, everyone, I believe we have more introductions to do." Naoto says through the call.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it was supposed to be a messy group call but instead it's filler I'm S O R R Y
> 
> Also if the format's shit, it's cause I wrote it on docs mobile version cause my roomate's cat's a bitch and a bootlicker who broke my fuckin laptop


End file.
